AT ONE and the same time, Wayne McCullough retained his World Boxing Council bantamweight title and surrendered it or so it appears. Following his victory at The Point in Dublin on Saturday night his problems in making the bantamweight limit of 8st 6lbs have finally caught up with him and will, surely demand, that he must move up a weight without defending his well-deserved and hard-won title.
The manner of his performance, in one of the most gruelling fights in the history of boxing, was in keeping with his extraordinary courage, but on this occasion it was matched and at times, set aside by the challenge of his Mexican opponent, Jose Luis Bueno.
Without any question this was a fight of quite extraordinary intensity. From first to last, the two boxers went about their work with a remarkable degree of courage and determination.
This did not come as any surprise to those who know McCullough, but the ability of the young Mexican, Bueno, to absorb the relentless punishment being meted out by the Irishman, surprised many and earned him their admiration.
At the end nobody was surprised either when it was learned that McCullough had been taken to Beaumont Hospital for examination. Later he was diagnosed as having a perforated ear-drum, which he suffered in the second round.
Yesterday the problem was reported not to be as serious as it might otherwise be, but many consequences arise from the fight itself and the way in which both boxers went about the job in hand.
Most important is the fact that it is most unlikely that McCullough will fight at the bantamweight limit again because he is required to shed several pounds to get under the stipulated weight.
It is now believed that he had to reduce his body weight by several pounds on Friday afternoon in order to comply with the rules and he admitted yesterday that he had taken a risk in doing so.
"I will not make excuses or suggest that Bueno wasn't a real problem for me, but I was not as strong as I should have been and I believe that I must move up a weight from now on, said McCullough as he lay on a treatment table in the lush surroundings of Luttrellstown Castle yesterday.
Both of his eyes were bruised and black and his cheeks were swollen after what many experienced observers believed to be one of the most punishing fights they had ever seen.
Crucially for McCullough, a right hook to his left ear in the middle of the second round played a central part in the fight: "After he hit me in the second round I felt a ringing in my ear," he said. "After that I couldn't hear properly and that explains why I threw punches after the bell a few times afterwards. I'm not making excuses. He was very strong and he took everything I tried. It was certainly the toughest fight of my life," he concluded, as efforts were being made to repair the considerable damage to his handsome face.
His next fight has now been put on the long finger. The difficulty about his weight creates a problem and it might involve a surrender off. his world title. He is less than enthusiastic about that situation, but there can never be a situation again where within a few days of the fight, he is more than seven pounds above the stipulated limit. That would not be good for him nor for the reputation of boxing.
The bout was fought at a furious pace from start to finish. On the basis of what we saw in the first three rounds. we could not envisage a fight to the finish. Both boxers thundered forward, gloves flying, driving each other across the ring.
The crowd - estimated at 6,000 - had given McCullough a hero's welcome, but Jose Luis Bueno was not in any way intimidated and surged forward in a bid to take an early initiative. On this observer's card the two opening rounds were even with Bueno's excellent counter-punching causing McCullough some problems, but a big right cross to the head seemed to shade the fight in McCullough's favour in the third.
That was to be McCullough's most productive period of the fight when he appeared to be taking control, but in the sixth round he ran into some heavy weather when the Mexican, having soaked up several punishing blows, drove the Irishman back for the first time.
McCullough was also less than impressive in the eighth round, when his lack of the earlier conviction seemed to indicate a doubt in his approach. McCullough was being doused by his corner man Thell Torrance as they tried to steady his mind, but by the end of the 11th round this observer scored the bout even with three minutes to go.
Many observers would have given the last round one way or the other but the matter was left to the three judges and their scoring was, to say the least, eccentric.
The Spanish judge, Jose Lazaro Carrasco, scored the bout 118 to 114 for McCullough, the judge from the United States, Marty Sammon, also indicated a four-point differential with a score of 116 to 112. All of this was thrown into disarray by the score of the Italian judge Rolando Barrovecchio who voted for Bueno to the extent of giving him a three-point advantage at 116 to 113.
Once again the minority opinion represented a seven-point swing which, in any logical assessment of the fight is simply laughable. It was not surprising that Brendan Ingle later suggested that the Italian judge "needed sacking".
Be that as it may, McCullough's future will need to be mapped out within the next month or so. The first item on his agenda will be his weight category, but from those of us who were at the ringside on Saturday night, what will be of most concern will be his ability to defend himself against the type of counter-puncher which Bueno turned out to be.
McCullough simply cannot expect to take on opponents of this calibre, regardless of their weight, without a more efficient approach to defence.
He was scarcely recognisable at the end and his opponent was also in pretty poor facial shape with a bruise the size of a golf ball under his left eye.
Perhaps both boxers have a lot to learn from this. Certainly they provided a most extraordinary contest which did both of them credit as far as skill and raw courage is concerned.
