FORMER World champion Wayne McCullough quit on his stool and then announced his retirement from the ring yesterday after his fight in the Cayman Islands.
McCullough, from Belfast but based in Las Vegas throughout his career, was returning to the ring after three years against American Juan Ruiz in their NABF featherweight title fight.
Despite being ahead on two of three judges' scorecards after six
rounds, the former WBC bantamweight champion, who went the distance with Naseem Hamed, told his corner he could not go on.
McCullough, who turns 38 next month, took the microphone in the ring and subsequently revealed this would be his swansong.
He said: "I think this is my last fight and I want to thank you all coming. I'm disappointed but felt I couldn't go on."
On Friday night, Darren McDermott's British middleweight title challenge ended acrimoniously as he lost to West Midlands rival Wayne Elcock due to a controversial second-round cut at the Wolverhampton Civic Hall.
The Dudley 29-year-old, in front of a partisan Black Country crowd, began the fight impressively and won the first round against the champion from Birmingham.
However, a clash of heads prompted by an Elcock foray left McDermott with a nasty cut under the left eye early in the second round.
And an immediate consultation with the ringside doctor saw the fight surprisingly waved off with Elcock retaining his belt – to howls of derision from the crowd."I didn't even get out of second gear," said Elcock.
"I'm not happy, of course I'm not. Darren was very game but I hadn't even started. It was over before it began. I'm disappointed to win that way, but a win is a win. That's boxing."
McDermott said: "I don't think the doctor even gave me a chance. I've got a top cutman in Jimmy Tibbs and they didn't even let him work on it.
"I feel I was robbed. I'll take it on the chin and bounce back."
Elcock, 34, won the title from Howard Eastman last year but had yet to defend the belt, instead unsuccessfully challenging German Arthur Abraham for the IBF version of the world title.
The full article contains 368 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
