[2] Successful defences of the title followed against John Simpson and Matthew Marsh before running into the Mongolian Choi Tseveenpurev in Bolton on 5 April 2008.
[2] In August 2008, Mathews decided to split from the Frank Warren boxing stable and took the decision to join the newly formed Hayemaker Promotions.
[6] Following the collapse of Setanta Sports and the loss of Hayemakers television deal, Mathews split from the promoter saying "It’s a shame but after the TV went the shows dried up.
[12] Mathews followed the win up with a challenge for the English lightweight title beating Amir Unsworth with a 1st round stoppage again at the Olympia on 2 April 2011.
After this he left Stephen Vaughan Jnr entered prizefighter for the second time which ended in a Semi-final defeat to Terry Flanighan and signed a Promotional deal with Dave Coldwell.
After this on 13 July 2013 he won the Vacant Commonwealth title with a sensational KO of Tommy Coyle in the 10th round outdoors at Craven Park Stadium Hull.
Mathews subsequently defeated Curtis Woodhouse by way of a third round ok to retain his Commonwealth title in Liverpool Olympia on 21 September 2013.
In October 2013 he announced a split from Dave Coldwell and signed an agreement with Frank Warren to box on his BoxNation Channel.
In his 1st fight back under the Warren banner he was out pointed easily by Irishman Stephen Ormond for the WBO European title on 7 December 2013.
Mathews lost the fight convincingly, via unanimous decision, as Flanagan defended his belt successfully for the second time in a row.