CRAIG Morgan is "on cloud nine" after winning his first professional boxing bout.

The Kelty fighter won every round against his opponent on Saturday night with a crowd of more than 100 friends and family in his corner.

The 19-year-old bested Adam Hutchinson 40-35, and was unfortunate not to land a knockout punch in the first round on a memorable night for the budding boxer.

He told the Times: "I'm still on cloud nine. I'm living the dream.

"I wanted to get the KO, but I can't complain as I knew he would be tough; he wanted to come up to Scotland and cause an upset. A KO would have been a nice wee bonus.

"I caught him with a cracker of a left uppercut in the first and to be fair to him, he got back up at the count of seven.

"He told me afterwards that he was then in survival mode as that rocked him.

"I won every round so I'm proud of my performance and in a way I'm glad it went four rounds as it proved I could go the distance if need be. Boxing is a learning game, but now there's no longer that doubt there."

Prior to the bout, he sparred and trained at the gym used by the likes of Tyson Fury and Ricky Hatton.

The fight, at Paisley's Lagoon Leisure Centre, came almost nine years since he started boxing, and the former Scottish 60kg youth champion was delighted to prove to his friends, family and fans he has what it takes.

He said: "I had spent around nine to ten months out of the ring, so no-one knew what to expect.

"No-one had seen all the hard work I had put in behind the scenes.

"I'm back now.

"I wanted to prove I could win and I did that.

"The best part was having my friends and family beside me. I even had people that I'd never met before turn up and support me. It really means the world to me to have all of that support in my corner.

"Before the fight we all thought I'd sell around 30 or 40 tickets, so I got a real shock to the system to hear how many we'd sold.

"We all had a great night out in Edinburgh after the fight and it's all been amazing to experience.

"If all goes well, my next fight could be set for November 27. We'll keep our fingers crossed for that."