For many in attendance and also the thousands who paid the PPV fee to watch the fights online, the stoppage seemed a bit premature and at the same time, denied the 38 year old a chance to display his talents to the Box Nation audience in a fight Anthony Fitzgerald turned down.

Both Tolan and his manager Gerard McCafferty were openly outraged at the decision to end the fight. Not denying the Belfast boxer was stumbled with a hard shot but felt that a standing 8 count would have been a more appropriate course of action.

Saunders returns to action at the Liverpool Echo Arena on January 27 on the undercard of James DeGale’s first defence of his WBO Intercontinental Super-Middleweight title against tough Spaniard Jose Guerrero. Could EBA champ Fitzgerald be offered a shot at the former Olympian with five weeks preparation time?

If anyone watched the fight and have any views on the decision, feel free to add your comments at the bottom of the article. More news on this story and the follow up as it develops will be posted here on ProKick.com