Boxer Little gutted after tight loss

Little, jetting off to Poland on holiday within a few hours of this defeat at the hands of Glenn Foot, lost the verdict on all three judges’ cards at the DW Stadium.

John Latham (97-94) John Keane (97-93) and Dave Parris (96-94) all went for Sunderland boxer Foot, and though it was stretching a point to say such a judgement erred on the side of a travesty, it did look harsh to more than one ringside observer and not least Little himself.

He readily conceded that it was a close contest but thought he had done just enough to win.

There was no such doubt in Foot’s mind who boasted: “I won the first eight rounds.”

Foot’s face did not back up that contentious viewpoint as he was badly marked and puffed up at the finish, looking like he had come out on the wrong side of the argument.

Maybe Little paid the price for a slow start when Foot swarmed all over him in the early rounds.

It was Little’s second loss as a pro, the only previous defeat being a contentious loss to Sam Matkin.

He said: “Coming after losing to Matkin, maybe it is not to be.

“My performance was forced and that was why I was throwing the jab all the time.

“It’s like a defence mechanism that I have in my mind, when I am not performing, I throw the jab, even though it was working.

“Personally, I had it really close and I thought I nicked it and hit him with the much cleaner shots.

“He might have been throwing three or four to my one, but I was literally throwing his head back.”

“The ones he was hitting me with were just glancing shots.

“But at the end of the day, that’s boxing - I don’t score the fights, they do.”