It was 18 minutes of sweat and sheer grit that didn't just stopped the bleeding on a career that had largely ground to a halt, but which put him firmly back in the boxing spotlight.

His points win over the highly credentialled Tasmanian lightweight Luke Jackson was undoubtedly the best all round performance of his professional career.

"It was massive for me ... massive," the 27-year-old said. "Probably the biggest step in my career."

That's no exaggeration. Jackson is a vastly experienced, hard nosed pro.

Yet after a couple of rounds to size him up, Lantry got to work and felt he emerged a clear points winner.

"You can never be sure, and he's obviously a much bigger name than me, so I was holding my breath when they read out the verdict," Lantry said.

"But there was no doubt in my mind that I'd won it."

The fight plan his team had come up with worked a treat.

"We were going to see what he had to offer for two rounds, and then I'd get to work and start to apply the pressure.

"And that was exactly how it worked out. It was perfect. He didn't hurt me at any stage and at the same time I know there were stages in the fight where my body shots and a couple of overhand rights were taking their toll.

"I knew I had to be clean and precise and keep going right to the final bell."

For Lantry, it was a massive turnaround from his last fight - a loss to the largely unheralded Daniel Carr at Doyalson, who stepped in as underdog with a very modest two wins, six losses record.

"As I've said, I wasn't in the right frame of mind mentally at the time - I'd had some changes to the team I'd had around me - but now I'm getting the right people in place," Lantry said. "But fighting is not all rainbows and butterflies. It's too hard for that.

"All I know is when I was announced the winner it felt awesome.

"A big win in this massive stadium, it was unreal ... a long way from some of the local bowling clubs I've fought in."

Next up is some downtime with the family to enjoy Christmas.

"But then come January I'll be back in the gym and training hard. The incentive is there now and the passion well and truly back."

In the main fight on the program, Tim Tszyu continued his meteoric rise, making short work of Kiwi Bowyn Morgan, sending him crashing to the canvas in under two minutes.

In doing so he claimed the WBO Global and IBF Australasian super welterweight championships.

And in the other main event, ormer league player Paul Gallen kept his unbeaten heavyweight record intact with a unanimour points decision over Kiwi UFC legend Mark Hunt. After the fight Gallen called out UFC middleweight superstar Robert Whittaker as his next target.

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