A professional boxer for only three years with six pro bouts under his belt, Lucas Adams finds himself wearing a championship belt.

The 26-year-old Butler resident improved his record to 3-1-2 and won the American Boxing Federation’s cruiserweight title with an 8-round unanimous decision over Mike Manno (6-3), 39, of Pittsburgh, Saturday night in Moundsville, W.Va. It was the first 8-round bout of Adams’ career.

“He won’t fight fewer than eight rounds again,” Butler Cubs boxing trainer Billy Wolfe said. “The longer the fight, the better Lucas gets.”

Manno entered the bout with four career knockouts. Adams has yet to win a pro fight by knockout.

“Defense is probably my biggest strength,” Adams said. “I like to counter-punch. I love the art of boxing. It’s about hitting and not getting hit.”

Adams began the bout with a solid first round before Manno put together solid performances in the second and third rounds. But he never got to Adams during that time.

“By the sixth round, I saw he (Manno) was getting tired,” Adams said. “I went after him more aggressively at that point.”

“Lucas put it on him pretty good those last few rounds,” Wolfe said.

The judges’ official scoring of the bout went 7-1, 6-2, 6-2. Adams said he sold close to 60 tickets to Butler area residents who made the trip to Moundsville.

“Manno had a lot more support in the crowd,” Adams admitted. “You never know how a decision is going to go. I kept thinking, was there going to be a robbery? I was pretty pumped when it went my way.”

Rich Cramer has been working with Adams in the ring since 2015. Adams made his pro debut March 2, 2019.

“He has a high boxing IQ,” Cramer said. “Lucas has a positive approach in the ring. He knows how to turn a fight his way.”

When Adams was 18 and as high school senior, he sparred in the ring with Brian Minto to help the latter get ready for big fights. It was there that he first learned how to spin and get away from opponents bigger than himself.

Adams is the first Butler Cubs boxer since Minto to participate in an 8-round professional fight.

“Spending that time in the ring with Brian definitely helped me,” Adams said. “I learned a lot being in there with a guy like him.”

Adams’ mother, Sylvia Adams, said Lucas has been going to the Butler Cubs gym since he was 11 years old.

“His dad wanted to take him to a gym,” Mrs. Adams recalled. “Lucas was a little young to just get into physical workouts. He saw the boxing going on in there and became enamored with it.

“He is crazy about the sport.”

Cramer confirmed that statement.

“We have to drag him out of the ring at times,” he said. “He can’t get enough of it.”

Adams may get a shot a light-heavyweight title Oct. 29 at Hollywood Casino at The Meadows. He is under consideration for that card.

His boxing training revolves around his work. Adams does shift work full-time in a steel mill.

“When I work nights, I come into the gym and get my work in after I wake up, before I go to work,” Adams said. “Working daylight, I go to the gym afterward. I find a way to get my work in.”

While Adams hopes to get at least one more fight before the end of the year, his long-term future in the sport remains uncertain.

“I should get more opportunities and more money, now that I have this belt,” he said. ”Guys will want to challenge me for this title now.

“Where my boxing career goes from here, I really haven’t thought about it. I’m just taking things as they come.”