Anthony Crolla was almost pulled out after 11 rounds of his decision loss to Jorge Linares last night in Manchester.
The Venezuelan retained the WBA lightweight title he had won from Crolla last September on scores of 118-109 from all three judges.
Down in the seventh, Crolla was soundly beaten by a masterful Linares and his trainer, Joe Gallagher, tried to pull him out after the penultimate round.
โJoe wanted to pull me out and I pleaded to let me go on. No lie, I was alright. Joe was thinking that he [Linares] was in his rhythm and I needed the stoppage and it probably wasnโt going to come,โ Crolla admitted after the fight.
โYou ask any fighter, itโs not me being brave, no one would want to be stopped with a round to go and thatโs all. In the 12th round I was never in danger of getting stopped. Iโm really thankful Joe didnโt pull me out.โ
Despite the brilliance of Linares, Crolla refused to fold in front of a raucous home crowd and fully deserved to hear the final bell to complete 24 consecutive rounds against the lightweight supremo.
He showed immense bravery to battle back in the eighth after hitting the deck but Linares moved into a higher gear and stamped his authority on the fight.
Linares thanked the Manchester crowd after the fight and credited Crolla with having โbig balls.โ He will now be ordered to box WBC lightweight champion Mikey Garcia.
Crolla intends to take some time out before deciding on his next move.
โIโm going to have a little break with my family now. Iโll have to watch it back. Iโll be back but Iโll have a think, sit down, see what the next step is,โ Crolla said.
โI believe thereโll be plenty of options, plenty of big fights for us and I want to be in those big fights. But Iโll go away now, rest up, I think Iโve had a pretty tough two years fight-wise.
โ[Terry Flanagan] is certainly an option, thereโll be plenty of options. Iโve got no problem fighting any fighter in the division as long as itโs a good fight and makes sense.โ
His promoter, Eddie Hearn, also floated the idea of Crolla moving to super-lightweight and challenging the victor of the April 15 world title unification clash between Ricky Burns and Julius Indongo.