NICK Blackwell may have successfully defended his British middleweight title for a second time but the Trowbridge champion admits that he was far from his best against Jack Arnfield on Saturday night.

The 25-year-old claimed a unanimous points decision over his Blackpool challenger, making use of his superior power and stamina to come out on top in an exciting contest at Bristol’s City Academy, but the Wiltshire star picked plenty of holes in his own performance.

“I was doing some stuff well but I was doing a lot of stuff wrong; basic stuff wrong,” said Blackwell, who plans to go back to the drawing board in the gym with trainer Gary Lockett.

“He was there to be taken and I just didn’t take him out.

“I need to go back with Gary and just ram loads of stuff in. It will come.

“I need to get in the gym, work on little things and drum them into me.

“I’m moaning and talking down about my performance but I did get the win.”

Post-fight, Blackwell was left nursing an injury to a chest muscle picked up in training, which he revealed left him considering pulling out of his clash with Arnfield.

‘Bang Bang’ said: “I was sparring (James) DeGale two weeks ago and I was tight around my test – I kept stretching it and I felt it click.

“I was rolling it with rollers and then I did a real hard 12-round session on the Monday before the weekend and it just went.

“I went to see my osteopath and chiropractor and was told it was a micro tear on the pressure point.

“I thought that I was pulling out of the fight at that point because I felt like I did now.

“She clicked it out and said that in three or four days, it would start feeling better. It did but it’s always been there.

“It didn’t hurt when I was punching but it did when he hit me – luckily, the adrenaline took over and got me through it.

“I did some things wrong but you can’t go into every fight feeling 100 per cent.”