Harrison tipped to bounce back
Dean Harrison's team insist the Wolverhampton boxer will bounce back from his shattering defeat in the biggest fight of his career.
The 25-year-old stepped in at just 10 days' notice to challenge Paul McCloskey for the British light-welterweight title in Widnes and was stopped in four rounds.
He was bidding to become his home city's first British champion since Tony Wilson won the vacant light-heavyweight belt with a sixth-round stoppage over Blaine Logsdon in December 1987.
McCloskey had dazzled when winning the title in an upset over Colin Lynes last December and Harrison admitted he would have preferred five or six weeks' notice for the fight, with the southpaw from Dungiven in Northern Ireland.
Harrison got off to the worst possible start when he was floored in the opening round – and his hopes took another blow late in the third.
He showed signs during the session that he could claw his way back into the fight, but he went back to his stool at the end of the round with blood dripping from a wound on his left eyebrow following a clash of heads.
McCloskey took extra encouragement and teed off with heavy shots at the start of the fourth, that left blood dripping from Harrison's nose and led to referee Marcus McDonnell stopping it.
But Harrison's trainer Errol Johnson remains confident Harrison can bring belts back to the First Team gym in Wednesbury.
He said: "We knew it was a gamble to fight McCloskey at such short notice. He's a slippery, hard-hitting southpaw and is hard enough to fight if you have 10 weeks to prepare, never mind 10 days.
"Dean knew he was up against it and he's not too disappointed.
"He's only been a professional for two and a half years, so it was an achievement to even get a crack at the British title."
Harrison went into the fight with 14 wins from 15 outings and had never been floored. All that changed just two minutes in, when McCloskey's sweeping left hook dropped him heavily.
McCloskey later gave credit to Harrison for beating the count – and Dean was firing back at the bell.
Harrison's best round was the third, but then came the cut. There was no way back this time.
