BALLYSILLAN man Aubrey Tarr suffered an abrupt end to his short reign as British lightweight kickboxing champion in Motherwell at the weekend.
In his third career showdown with Scotland's promising Alexander White, Tarr was dethroned by a points decision.
"It was a good fight and Alexander won fairly," said Tarr.
"I won the belt when we were supposed to fight recently but he weighed in too heavy. I have to give him credit for making the weight and winning this time but I intend to get another shot at winning back the title."
Carrickfergus cruiserweight Peter Rusk also suffered defeat - Rusk got off to a bad start and played catch-up with opponent Chris Ford, who had shocked him in their recent bout in Belfast.
Although Rusk did trouble Ford on several occasions, it was too little too late for the quiet man of Billy Murray's Prokick Gym.
Another Carrickfergus man, super-heavyweight Martin Connolly, was told to stop fighting on doctor's orders after he sustained a cut to his left-eye in a showdown with Scottish giant Stevie Bonner.
Connolly took the fight at the last minute after he discovered that his Polish opponent, Tomachek, was ruled out by medics due to a greater weight difference between him and Connolly.
Midway through the third round Connolly was stopped when a cut was opened by Bonner's thumping right hook. He said: "I hope I didn't let anyone down. I had a chest infection, change of opponent and a long journey but I always wanted to fight Bonner and I thought this was my time.
"The upside is I've taken Stevie Bonner's best shots and I can't wait to get it on again."
Newcomer Carl Kelly from Newtownabbey had his debut away from home against Motherwell’s Scott Strachan. This was a closely fought fight with Strachan having the edge on boxing ability in the inside. The nod from the judges went to the home fighter Strachan although ringsiders thought that a draw was the right option. Kelly, just at the gym one year proved he will be a name to watch out for in the future.
Despite a rare poor return from this visit to Scotland, Belfast did keep the best to last, when Gary Hamilton clashed with former world champion Stuart McGowan of Dundee
Hamilton moved up an incredible four weight divisions to take on a five-round non-title bout.
Hamilton, the smaller of the two men, proved to be the bigger man in ability.
In the second round his kicks troubled McGowan, forcing the referee to stand in and give a count. It was much of the same throughout the fight and at the end of the fourth round the Belfast boy had McGowan reeling with punches and kicks, but the former world welterweight champion Stuart McGowan was dangerous right to the end.
"I've only fought once this year and I just managed to scrape a draw on that occasion," said Hamilton.
"Since the Mohammed Samir fight last December I've done a lot of soul searching but after this fight I feel I'm getting back to my best."

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