Inexperience, as much as anything, cost Stevie McGuire, the Glenrothes super-middleweight, the chance to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with stablemate Paul Appleby as a British champion at the weekend.
McGuire came up short against Brian Magee, the former world champion, at Brentwood's International Centre on Saturday night after matching his Belfast opponent for the first five rounds of their contest for the vacant Lonsdale belt.
Having appeared capable at one stage of outwitting Magee, McGuire was no match for the Ulsterman when it came to the exploitation of underhand tactics.
When it was adjudged that McGuire had deliberately used his head to inflict a cut across the bridge of his nose in the fourth round, Magee responded by blatantly butting the Scot.
Magee also had a point deducted in the seventh round for landing a low blow that made McGuire grimace.
McGuire's manager, Tommy Gilmour had no complaints yesterday over Magee's approach, but he was critical of referee Richie Davies following his boxer's eighth-round stoppage.
The Fifer was counted out after being floored four times by body shots, but, according to Gilmour, the first of these, in the sixth round, should have been deemed illegal because Magee struck his opponent after the referee had ordered the boxers to break.
Gilmour said: "The referee had a dreadful night. He allowed Magee to get away with hitting Stevie after calling break' and that was the moment that changed the whole pattern of the fight.
"Stevie had started to relax and wasn't braced to take the punch and that was when the title was won and lost."
n Vladimir Klitschko stopped Hasim Rahman in the seventh round to retain his IBF, IBO and WBO heavyweight titles at the SAP-Arena in Mannheim, Germany, on Saturday.
Rahman, who beat Lennox Lewis to become world heavy-weight champion in 2001, barely landed a punch as the Ukrainian dominated the fight.
Klitschko put his opponent on the canvas in the sixth with a flurry of left hooks. Rahman got up after a seven count but spent the rest of the round on the ropes and only the bell saved him.
The champion finished the job 44 seconds into the seventh when he followed up a left jab with a hook over the top to put Rahman in a corner before Tony Weeks, the referee, stepped in to stop the fight.
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