Joe Calzaghe survived a fourth round cut and frequent head clashes to capture an unanimous decision over Sakio Bika on Saturday and hold on to his IBF and WBO super middleweight titles.

The victory extended Calzaghe's unbeaten record to 42-0 with his 19th successful title defence of his WBO title, which he has held for nine years, and the first defence of the IBF crown he took from Jeff Lacy in March.

While he fought a near perfect bout against Lacy, he was ragged against Bika and had blood streaming from above is left eye at the end of the fourth round after a clash of heads. Bika also had a point taken away for his use of the head in round five, and referee Mickey Vann warned the Australia-based challenger from Cameroon twice more for similar tactics.

British judge Phil Edwards scored the fight 116-111, while American John Lawson and Puerto Rica's Jose Rivera each had it 117-110 as Bika lost for the second time in 24 contests.

``I'm disappointed with the performance,'' Calzaghe said. ``I wanted to put on a spectacle but he was a dirty fighter and I got caught a lot with the head. I wasn't 100 per cent tonight and it showed.''

A lefthander who often fights effectively behind his right jab, Calzaghe angered his corner and promoter Frank Warren by frequently dropping his guard against Bika and exposing his chin to lure the challenger onto his left hand.

Bika connected several times with rights to the head, and Calzaghe only occasionally obeyed his corner's instructions to jab and stay out of trouble.

Calzaghe is hoping to unify the super middleweight titles and set up a contest with Denmark's Mikkel Kessler, who knocked out Germany's Markus Beyer in the third round on Saturday to add the WBC title to his own WBA crown.