ON Saturday night in Rotherham, South African southpaw Klaas Mboyane shocked Sheffieldโ€™s Ross Burkinshaw, who was forced to retire at the conclusion of the fourth-round with an inured left elbow. Having his very first fight in England, 33-year-old Mboyane improved to 17-10-2(9) in winning the biggest fight of his career. Burkinshaw, five years the younger man, is now 14-6-2(8).

Mboyane and Burkinshaw put on a great little action fight that may well have gone on to become something of a classic had the favourite not been pulled out. Going toe-to-toe with the smaller man from Limpopo in South Africa, the big-for-the-weight Burkinshaw gave the visitor every chance. Commentator Jamie Moore – doing a superb job for Spike TV – wondered aloud why Burkinshaw was not using his height and reach advantages.

The two traded from the first bell, with Burkinshaw edging the opening couple of sessions before โ€œIron Man,โ€ as Mboyane is known, turned the fight in his favour with some wicked body punching in the third and fourth-rounds. Now looking tired and hurt, Burkinshaw was having to dig deep to stay in there. It was non-stop action. And then came the surprising finish.

Burkinshaw said post-fight how he had injured his left elbow during sparring, and that he had hurt the elbow again during the short and fierce battle. Burkinshaw, who had been on a great run of form recently – picking up the Commonwealth bantamweight title last year and the WBO European belt in his last fight, back in February – had hoped a win over Mboyane would lead him to a WBO world title shot. Now, after this heartbreaking setback, โ€œThe Bossโ€ spoke about the possibility of retiring.

This, his promoter Dennis Hobson said, was a spur of the moment remark. But it could be a long road back for Burkinshaw, a man who has given us some excellent fights during his career. Perhaps Hobson will be able to make a return match of the fight that was really beginning to catch fire last night at The Magna Centre.

HERE DENNIS HOBSON HIS HOPES FOR SPIKE TV’S INVOLVEMENT IN BOXING