‘It’s definitely not a set-back for me’ – Liam Gaynor freed after losing his 0

Liam Gaynor [5-1] believes his shock defeat to Ed Harrison earlier this month will speed his progression rather than slow him down.

The Bolton based Tallaght fighter feels freed by the lose of the overly valued ‘0’ and rather than hamper his Irish title hopes he believes it may help them.

Gaynor argues an interesting year still lies ahead and believes those are around him will now be less risk adverse. With no duck egg to protect he is confident he can secure riskier fights moving forward.

The 22-year-old is taking every positive he can from the defeat.

“It’s a learning curve and definitely a positive one because I’m not afraid of losing the ‘undefeated’ label anymore,” Gaynor told Irish-boxing.com.

“As a prospect that’s the thing everyone wants to protect so they pick their fights very carefully. Now I’m not afraid to take risky fights and the next year will definitely be interesting for me. There’s no point in letting a loss get to me really.”

The Kilnamanagh native is taking the defeat on the chin and remains positive.

However, he doesn’t believe he should have to be discussing the positives defeat may bring around.

Gaynor is adamant he won the fight.

“Now that things have settled and I’ve looked back on the fight I thought I won. I don’t like blaming people or looking for excuses but I thought I did win.

“On the night I got in and was confident about beating his style but a week earlier I had a different opponent and was prepared for him. I felt in control of the fight and in the last 20 seconds of each round he threw a flurry of punches at me which I felt I dealt with very well. At the end of the fight I knew I took a few shots but felt I gave more then I got.”

Despite not the most impressive of records, Harrison was flagged as a journeyman with the potential to ask questions – and he certainly did that.

“He was definitely a step up in terms of opponent compared my previous ones, but with a 0-3 record there wasn’t much footage to study on him and make a game plan so it was definitely a risky fight for me,” he adds before stating it’s a risk he was more than happy to take.

“I definitely need risks like this when it comes to stepping up to the bigger sharks out there.

“I’ll learn from the loss as most fighters do. It’s definitely not a set back for me.” I’ll be working on my flaws that I’ve seen from the fight and I will come back a different fighter from this loss.”

Gaynor also revealed he still hopes to win a domestic title by the end of the year and argues the defeat won’t hamper his goals.

“I’m still looking at a title by the end of the year. This will just drive me to work harder. I will be doing another 6 rounder next and chase what is the dream for me.”