Inverness boxer Gary Cornish feels he has plenty still to offer after his British heavyweight title defeat by Englishman Sam Sexton on Friday.
Cornish fell to only the second professional defeat of his career at Meadowbank Arena in Edinburgh, with Sexton the unanimous winner after 12 rounds.
The 30-year-old’ Cornish’s previous defeat came against Anthony Joshua at O2 Arena in September 2015 in a fight that lasted just over 90 seconds.
This time around, however, Cornish felt there were plenty areas of encouragement as the Highlander plots his next step.
He said: “I’d love a rematch. I’ll speak to my team at MTK Scotland. They are a great bunch to work with and we turned down four title fights to get a shot at this British title.
“If I get another shot that would be good.
“That was my first 12 rounds and I know I can do it now and I know what it takes. I’m not finished yet.
“It’s a defeat and in this game I am only as good as my last fight.
“It’s about coming back stronger. It feels different to the Anthony Joshua fight. I didn’t do myself justice that night and it only went one round.
“This time I went all 12, which will be good for me. I didn’t feel I let myself down.”
Cornish had a late interruption to his build-up to the contest with Sexton, after opting to part with trainer Billy Nelson, before spending the last fortnight working with Preston-based Johnney Roye.
Although the changes implemented by Roye came too little too late, Cornish was hugely encouraged and is keen to make the partnership a long-term one.
He added: “Those first couple of rounds you could see what I had to offer and if I continue to work with Johnney then you’ll see it sustained for 12 rounds.The way he had me fighting suited me much more. I only had 10 days with him but I am sure if we work together in the future he’ll have me a lot fitter. That’s the plan.
“I spoke to a few of my sponsors and they are going to keep backing me, so I’ll get back to work.
“I want to be winning titles.”
Cornish’s manager at MTK Scotland, Sam Kynoch, remains confident the 6ft 7in fighter will come back strongly again in his attempt to become the first Scot to win the British heavyweight title.
Kynoch said: “We need to ease him back in but he showed he belongs there.
“He’ll go back to Inverness for some sort of homecoming fight.
“We had hoped it would be a first defence of the British title. But Gary is very positive.
“Changing trainer 10 days before a fight is far from ideal. But, given that happened, he did especially well and didn’t make excuses. He just got on with it but it was never going to be easy.
“I don’t think there was a huge amount in the fight, he just let Sexton come into it in the middle and late rounds instead of sticking to his boxing like Johnney wanted him to do. It wasn’t ideal that the original fight was postponed.
“But he’s still got a British title in him. I still firmly believe he is going to be Scotland’s first heavyweight champion.”