Jono Carroll reaches a stalemate with Guillaume Frenois in IBF World title eliminator
Split draw for Irishman against Frenchman on Brook-Zerafa undercard
Jono Carroll's (16-0-1) shot at Tevin Farmer's IBF World super-featherweight title will have to wait after he was held to a draw by Guillaume Frenois (46-1-1) in Sheffield.
The two super-featherweight southpaws were bidding for the right to become the mandatory challenger for Tevin Farmer (27-4-1).
Dubliner Carroll, 26, had won all 16 of his previous fights, while 35-year-old Frenois had lost only one of his previous 47.
The judges called it 115-113 in favour of Frenois, 115-113 for Carroll and 114-114 split down the middle.
It means that his intended dream fight with IBF King Farmer will now have to wait until later in 2019.
In the headliner, Kell Brook ground out a points victory over Michael Zerafa in a WBA final eliminator.
The rest of the action saw Sheffield's Kid Galahad maintain his 100% record with his 26th career victory in a featherweight contest with Brayan Mairena.
The 28-year-old, who will fight the winner of the IBF title fight between Josh Warrington and Carl Frampton on 22 December, won all eight rounds against the Nicaraguan.
Liverpool's Anthony Fowler needed only 93 seconds to beat Argentina's Jose Carlos Paz. Fowler, 27, sent Paz to his knees with a crunching left hook to the ribs to make it nine wins out of nine, eight of which have been by knockout.
Unbeaten Sunderland fighter Josh Kelly's welterweight clash with Russia's David Avanesyan was postponed after Kelly was taken ill on the morning of the fight.