The Currock fighter went the distance with his Sunderland opponent in a ferocious bantamweight title eliminator battle.
But judges awarded victory to Garside who won a unanimous points decision.
The quality of the fight was high throughout – with BKFC president David Feldman afterwards stepping into the ring to announce he was doubling the purses of both boxers.
Garside also paid tribute to Sewell in his post-fight interview, saying: “Carlisle, stay behind your boy – some great things are coming for him.”
It was 32-year-old Sewell’s second fight on the major BKFC platform and the Cumbrian – nicknamed ‘the Scumbag’ – gave a resilient and determined performance in the ring at BKFC Fight Night Newcastle.
Backed by vocal support from Carlisle at the Utilita Arena, and with the city’s former BKFC British champion Danny Christie in his corner along with coach Arron Adair, Sewell’s fight got off to a patient start.
Sewell faced Sunderland’s Lewis Garside, right, in Newcastle (Image: BKFC)
Sewell landed a good right hand as the first round went on, with Garside beginning to use his jab to good effect. Amid an aggressive end to the round, Garside landed a final punch on Sewell after the Carlisle fighter had turned away, thinking the round had finished.
It was deemed a fair punch and Sewell withstood it, going on to launch a rapid barrage of punches in the second round, both men suffering facial cuts as they faced increasingly strong blows.
Garside, nicknamed ‘the Leprechaun’, impressed with his skill in avoiding Sewell’s heaviest punches in the third round and countering with his jab even as Sewell, in the fourth round, landed a strong right uppercut and a further flurry of punches.
The Sunderland boxer, whose forehead was bleeding whilst Sewell’s left eye swelled, continued to use his jab effectively and kept the Carlisle boxer’s strongest work at bay as the contest came to an end after five battling and fully committed rounds.
The three judges scored the fight in Garside’s favour by margins of 49-47, 48-47 and 50-45 respectively, both fighters embracing and the quality of the fight praised by BKFC’s commentators.
It was Sewell’s latest fight in the bantamweight division after last September’s victory against Patryk Pientnyk in Manchester.
Earlier on the undercard at the Newcastle event there was also a battling defeat for Maryport-based Bartek Kanabey in his latest BKFC fight.
Bartek Kanabey lost by third-round TKO in his latest BKFC fight (Image: BKFC)
Kanabey, nicknamed ‘the Polish Plough’, lost by technical knock-out (TKO) in the third round of a hard-fought featherweight contest against Jeff Saunders.
The west Cumbria based fighter tried to unsettle north east based Saunders by going on the attack in the first round, but Saunders absorbed Kanabey’s attack and landed some punches of his own, with a large swelling developing under Kanabey’s right eye early on after Saunders landed jabs.
Kanabey tried to force the issue in round two but Saunders’ skill was on show as he evaded the Cumbrian’s best offerings, before Kanabey walked into a round of punches and went down.
He survived the mandatory eight count, and another after a strong exchange before the end of the round.
But 28 seconds in round three saw Saunders floor the determined Kanabey with a powerful right hand, and this time referee Alan Jackson stopped the fight.
The two fighters embraced as Saunders’ TKO victory was declared after an accomplished BKFC debut, Kanabey now with three defeats and two wins from his BKFC outings.