Luke Campbell displayed incredible heart on Saturday night but saw his attempt at becoming the WBA lightweight champion come up just short of the mark.
The London 2012 gold medallist was tasked with taking on the tricky Jorge Linares in California and had to rally from some early adversity to claw his way back into the fight.
But he managed it in some style.
After being dropped by Linares late on in the second round, Campbell dug deep and claimed several of the middle rounds against the streaking Venezuelan.
Scottish judge Victor Loughlin viewed the contest as a Campbell victory by a margin of 115-113 but the other two judges had it 115-112 and 114-113 in favour of the defending champion.
It was the second time in Campbell’s career that he suffered a split decision defeat, with his first coming against Frenchman Yvan Mendy in 2015, but the 29-year-old felt he’d done enough to get the nod on Saturday night in California.
“He’s a great champion but I thought I outclassed him,” said Campbell after the final bell.
“No-one can ever doubt my heart. I got off to a rocky start, he hit me with a nice clean shot in the second round, caught me on the eye and cut it. I wasn’t dazed or anything like that, just a nice shot that put me on my back.
“From then I had double-vision in one eye for the rest of the fight.
“I thought I won the fight. I didn’t think he was landing any shots whatsoever and I was catching him with all the clean shots.”
