Beaten McCullough quits boxing

Former World champion Wayne McCullough quit on his stool and then announced his retirement from the ring this morning after his fight in the Cayman Islands.

McCullough, from Belfast but based in Las Vegas throughout his career, was returning to the ring after three years against American Juan Ruiz in their NABF featherweight title fight.

Despite being ahead on two of three judges scorecards after six rounds, the former WBC bantamweight champion, who went the distance with Naseem Hamed, told his corner he could not go on.

McCullough, who turns 38 next month, took the microphone in the ring and subsequently revealed this would be his swansong.

He said: “I think this is my last fight and I want to thank you all for coming. I’m disappointed with the way things went but I just felt I couldn’t go on.”