Zac Dunn became the first Australian super middleweight to capture the Commonwealth title in 26 years with a unanimous points victory over England’s Liam Cameron on Friday night at the Melbourne Pavilion in Flemington.

In the first Commonwealth title fight held in Melbourne since 1989, judges scored the fight 117-111,115-113 and 116-112 in favor of the Melbournian who now comes one step closer to a world title shot.

Dunn (23-0,18KO) was the busier of the two cutting off the ring and throwing body hook and uppercut combinations at the game Brit who was content to lay on the ropes and catch most punches on his gloves and arms.

“I was looking for the knockout early and sometimes when you look for it, it never comes,” Dunn said in the post fight interview. “Then I went back to my boxing and enjoying the rounds and winning them,” he said.

“I tried my best. Zac is in the top 10 in the world and I pushed him all the way,” Said Cameron who fell to 19-5, 7KO, “Thank you Zac, well done, (I) hope you go all the way mate.”

Dunn – who is ranked in the top 15 of all four major governing bodies (WBC #6, WBO #7, IBF #8, WBA #14) – looks set to have a shot at a world title some time in 2017 against the likes of a Tyron Zeuge, who recently stopped Giovanni De Carolis in the 12th round to capture the WBA ‘Regular’ Belt earlier this month.

Badou Jack (right), James DeGale (left)
Badou Jack (right), James DeGale (left)

The WBC and IBF belts are being unified by their respective title holders – Badou Jack and James DeGale, when the pair are scheduled to meet at the Barclays Center in New York on January 14th, with the winner to face WBC mandatory Callum Smith, ruling out a title shot for Dunn any time until late 2017.

Zeuge – who had a lot of difficulty in his two fights with De Carolis – is a much more winnable fight for Dunn at this stage and will give Dunn the biggest test of his 23 fight career to date, while giving him solid experience on his way to the elite of the division.

In the co-feature, fellow Melbournian Blake Caparello (24-2-1, 8KO) knocked out Ricky Torrez in the first round, raising speculation of an all Melbourne showdown in the near future against Zac Dunn.

“You just witnessed the best Super Middleweight in the country,” said a defiant Caparello in the post fight interview – a possible verbal jab at his rival Dunn.

This was Caparello’s second straight knockout victory after losing a lopsided Decision to Andre Dirrell earlier this year.