The man with the fast left-hand jab and stinging rip to the body gets a shot at the big time overseas after his tough 12-round win over the hard-punching New Zealand champion, Steve Heremaia, at a packed Sharkies Leagues Club on Friday night.

The fight for the vacant WBO Oriental light middleweight title and Waters' IBO Pan Pacific title now gives Waters an automatic top 15 world ranking.

In his toughest fight of his career (12 wins from 14), Waters fought cleverly after being rocked by a right hand in the fourth. He showed his toughness by recovering quickly and then setting the pace for the remainder of the fight.

Both fighters fought cautiously, aware of the other's knockout power. But Waters continued to be the busier, working off his solid jab and occasionally catching the Kiwi with some lightning combinations before eventually winning on each judge's card.

"He had a big right hand, so I had to box smart, but I thought I carried the fight with my left,'' said a happy Waters, who hasn't lost since early 2006.

"I knew the fight could go the distance, so I trained hard for that. I'm really satisfied.''

Waters agreed to a later re-match, but with a top 15 ranking he now has bigger fish to fry, and Waters is likely to snap up any offer to fight in the US, possibly later in the year.

The big crowd were treated to some fast and furious action, with the win by Sutherland's big Michael Bolling in the main preliminary, the most popular. Bolling took another giant step in his young professional career with a knockout of Kashif Mumtaz.