James DeGale was forced to dig deep to grind out his second defence of the European super-middleweight title.
DeGale started brightly against French challenger Hadillah Mohoumadi, landing consistently with combinations in the first few rounds.
The 2008 Olympic gold medalist struggled to maintain a furious pace in the middle rounds in only his second fight of the year.
Mohoumadi has never been stopped in his professional career, proving his durability by forcing DeGale onto the ropes on a regular basis in the second half of the fight.
DeGale continued to land quality shots but could not put his opponent away, forcing the fight to a judges' decision.
The three judges at ringside scored the fight 116-112, 119-109, 117-111 to DeGale, extending the Londoner's professional record to 13-1.
The victory marked DeGale's first outing on home soil in over a year and also marked the start of his promotional deal with Mick Hennessy, who also looks after Tyson Fury and Chris Eubank Jr.
