GUNNEDAH'S Wade Ryan has fallen agonisingly short of claiming the Australian Super Welterweight Championship at Sydney's Luna Park on Saturday.
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Stepping into the ring with former Commonwealth and Olympic Games representative Daniel Lewis, Ryan landed countless telling blows on his opponent throughout the fight.
However, it wasn't enough as the judges awarded a unanimous decision to Lewis, handing the new champion his third-consecutive professional win.
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Ryan said while he was disappointed the decision didn't go his way, he was "pleased to go the distance".
"We thought I had landed the more telling punches throughout the fight, so we thought it could have gone my way," Ryan told the Leader.
"But that's the second fight in a row where the decision has gone against us and the way of the hometown fighter.
"We knew going in that the only way we were likely to win was to knock him out and unfortunately we couldn't do that.
"That's just the way boxing goes sometimes."
Dominating the early rounds of the fight, the turning point came when Ryan suffered a suspected broken hand in round three.
"It was left hand, which is my dominant hand," he said.
"Every time I threw a punch after it happened I could feel it burn and hurt quite badly.
"But I wasn't going to give up, it's just not what you do, you have to keep going."
Ryan said he would now look to take a break from the sport.
"I'll give the body a bit of a rest now for the next few months or so," he said.
"We are working on hopefully hosting a fight night again in Gunnedah later in the year.
"There's still a fair bit of organising to do in terms of dates and times and stuff, but hopefully it should come together."
Ryan said he was inspired by the support of the Gunnedah community.
"It was fantastic to know so many people here in Gunnedah were behind me," he said.
"I'm lucky to live in such a supportive community where so many people take an interest in how I'm going.
"I can't thank all of my coaches, trainers, sponsors and the community enough for all of their support."