James DeGale has retained his WBC Silver super middleweight title by beating Dyah Davis on points in Kent.

The 27-year-old started strongly,and had the American in trouble in the second round, peppering him with shots as Davis sought refuge behind his guard on the ropes.

Comfortably ahead on the scorecards, DeGale took his foot off the pedal in the eighth round and was caught with a swift shot that seemed to do a bit of damage to his nose.

However, the Londoner coasted into the 12th round with some clever boxing and took the decision with all three judges scoring the bout 118-110 in his favour.

The win is his seventh since suffering the only defeat of his professional career against George Groves two years ago, taking his record to 17-1.