Sam Horton admits he blew his chance of securing a crack at the British middleweight title in Manchester.

Horton and Cello Renda were paired in an eliminator for the vacant championship on a Ricky Hatton promotion last night and the Stourbridge bus driver crashed to the first defeat of his professional career inside two rounds.

Going into the scheduled 10-round fight, the statistics suggested Horton had the better skills, but Renda’s record showed eight knock- out wins inside three rounds. Horton took the fight to the Peterborough puncher and bloodied his nose in the first round, but the 24-year-old hit the canvas twice in the second.

The referee signalled the finish after Horton was felled for the second time.

“I boxed like an idiot,” said the Midlands Area super-middleweight champion. “I landed a few jabs early on and went looking for the knock-out. I left myself open and got caught. I fought the wrong fight, but I will learn from this and come back.”

Steve Gethin from Walsall was outpointed by unbeaten Manchester super-bantamweight Rhys Roberts and Delroy Spencer was fuming after referee Michael Alexander stopped his fight with last year’s Olympian Joe Murray in the first.