BOTH Tyrone Nurse and Jason McCalmon breezed through their opponents in the appropriately named ‘Seasons Beatings’ at Cedar Court Hotel.

Nurse stepped into the unknown against Julius Rafael and came away with a 40-33 win.

Rafael was down twice in the opening round as Nurse tried to end the bout early.

Nurse took control of the fight from the off, peppering Rafael with shots to both the head and body.

A combination of body shots forced Rafael onto his knees, but he made the referee’s count.

History repeated itself late on in the round, with Rafael again going down on one knee following Nurse pressure.

The Slovakian had been wholly unadventurous in the opening blows, but he threw some lefts in the second that stopped Nurse’s offensive momentarily.

Nurse then showed his defensive attributes to dance away from a wild barrage from Rafael.

Back onto the front foot and Nurse let loose some eye-catching combinations that had Rafael reeling, although a stoppage never looked like materialising.

The first-round offensive from Nurse ensured he recorded a comfortable win.

After the fight Nurse acknowledged that he may have taken his foot off the accelerator.

“I did as well as you can against a journeyman. When I stood with him I felt my snap go,” he said.

“I’ve had a bit of a cold, but you never know if it might have been me switching off a little bit.”

McCalmon's opponent was Jamie Ambler and the super-middleweight did well to avoid the Welshman’s spoiling tactics in his 40-35 triumph.

Ambler came to frustrate McCalmon, but he did well to keep his cool.

The fight began with McCalmon utilising his strong jab, while Ambler gave as good as he got, his work was untidy.

The Fartown fighter landed four or five unanswered shots in the second round, but Ambler’s experience rescued him on this occasion.

Using the ropes to his advantage, as well as a high guard, Ambler avoided most of McCalmon’s advances, but did receive some telling shots to the body.

Working off his jab well, McCalmon stepped up the pace and Ambler was forced into holding.

After being warned by the referee, Ambler was eventually deducted a point to hand McCalmon a convincing victory.

Neither of the undefeated prospects really sparkled under the Christmas decorations, but both will work over the festive period to ensure they are in a position to get off to a flyer in 2011.

“It’s time to get a move on. I’ve served my apprenticeship now,” said Nurse, now with a 15-0 record.

“I’m 21 in January so I’m going to have a bit of time off.

“I’m a gym rat anyway so I’ll train over Christmas and hope to get a Huddersfield show for a title in February or March time.”

McCalmon (W2, L0) had to put birthday celebrations on hold for this fight. He turned 23 on Wednesday and can now enjoy himself.

“Finally I can go and stuff my face and have a few drinks,” he laughed.

“I’m going to keep going into the gym over Christmas and then I won’t have to start my fitness from scratch.”