A veteran Mill Hill boxer has hung up his gloves after one last bout, which he dedicated to one of his pals, who died earlier this year at the age of 31.

Darren Smith, known in the ring as 'Dancing Daz' entered the boxing ring as a semi-professional for the last time at the grand old age of 41 at the Last Drop Village Venue in Bolton.

The show, earlier this month, was labelled 'the Last Dance' in honour of Darren.

Darren's close friend, Sam Taylor died earlier this year after he lost his battle against bowel cancer.

Darren, said: "I have had close to 30 fights over the last 10 years and I wanted this last fight to be in memory of our close friend Sam Taylor as I used to take Sam boxing training with me as he had a real passion for boxing, however every time he progressed he ended up laying off due to his illness.

"There was a crowd of approx 450 people and my following was over 90 people which was way above the average as there was seven other fights that night, this support wasn't just for me but for Sam Taylor as well.

"Having Sam in the back of my mind I knew I could not lose this fight as I owed it to him to win is memory of him and although I fought one of the toughest opponents to date I'm happy to say I won the fight by majority decision."

"A special thank you to close friends of Sam, Kieron Hosker and Kirt Birney as they have watched each and everyone of my fights over the years."