Keane McMahon believes he earned respect if not victory in Scotland

Keane McMahon believes his stock has risen despite the fact he suffered a first career defeat in Scotland on Saturday night.

‘The Iceman’ remains cool in the wake of defeat and was refreshingly honest as well as insightful when discussing the reverse.

The Dublin welter admits the right man in Dean Sutherland won the BUI Celtic title and accepts he lost fair and square on the Sam Kynoch show.

However, he does feel he performed to such a level in a high octane and entertaining clash that he gained fight fan respect.

Indeed, it seems the 24-year-old even managed to gain confidence from the points reverse.

The Dave Murphy-managed Boxing Ireland fighter certainly doesn’t think defeat will hamper his progress and explains how, if anything, the lessons learned will only benefit him moving forward.

“It’s a small setback but I belong in big fights I’m a quality fighter that is going to learn on the job,” he told Irish-Boxing.com

“I’ve looked back at the fight and believe I will right the wrongs. I wish Dean all the best. I am not too sure on what’s next but I’ll definitely still be in the mix for a title. I believe my stock has risen.”

“There are loads of positives to take from the fight. I made a few silly errors in terms of not staying on my boxing and getting involved too much at times. I started too slow I think, but I’m happy with how I finished the fight. I finished the stronger I believe. It was a great learning fight.”

When McMahon talks about righting wrongs he isn’t talking about the decision. The Dub believes the right man got the verdict after an entertaining eight rounds.

The welterweight prospect has already learnt from the experience and is confident he can make the changes needed to ensure he comes out on the right side of the scorecards when he returns to big fights.

“I scored it 5-3 to Dean because of his activity early on in the fight. The small ring didn’t help but it’s no excuse he won the fight fair and square. It was a war,” he adds before showing more honesty.

“He was a lot better than I thought technically. He was very strong as well I thought I was a little bit stronger towards the back end of the fight but as I said I started too slow. It would be interesting if there was another two rounds because I was finishing very strong.”

It wasn’t much consolation directly after the fight, but with time to reflect McMahon can take some solace in the fact he part took in a crowd pleasing affair.

“I’m glad everybody was entertained I’m a warrior and will never quit in there no matter what.”

Taking the defeat on the chin may come that bit easier for McMahon has he has a clear understanding of what he feels went wrong and the fact he thinks those issues are easily addressed.

“On a technical standpoint I wasn’t happy with my basic boxing,” he continues. 

“I neglected the jab and my boxing ability too much. I’m a winner though and I will put the wrongs right.

“I learnt that I’m tough as nails and have a good chin. I learnt i can do eight rounds no problem and I learnt that I shouldn’t neglect my boxing ability ever because when I kept it simple I was doing excellent.”

Photo Credit: Ricardo Guglielminotti – The Fighting Irish (@ThefIrish)