SEAN McFarlane’s Prizefighter hopes ended at the first hurdle in London on Saturday and the bareknuckle boxer admitted to being left looking like ‘The Elephant Man’.

The 37-year-old, who came out of retirement to feature in the O2 Arena tournament, was badly cut around his left eye in the first round.

Ricardo Franco went on to bag the win by stoppage due to the cut in the second round and progresses to the semi-finals in March in pursuit of the £10,000 purse.

McFarlane pointed to his opponent being ‘rangey’ and that it was difficult to get close and inside him, as well as having visual impairment issues due to the cut that left him swollen and needing stitches.

“He was a good fighter, and full respect to him. He could go on and win it now,” said McFarlane after only his second loss in the bareknuckle format.

“There was some quality fighters among the eight competitors but I think if I’d been paired with some of the others I’d have won.”

McFarlane, who is on the books at Optimum Boxing in Milner Street, has been recovering at his Warrington home this week but returns to work ‘on the motorways’ on Saturday.

“I think I’ll be okay looking like The Elephant Man, drivers going past at 70mph won’t have chance to see my face,” he said.

It seems likely that McFarlane will fight again.

“I feel at the moment that I don’t want to go out on a loss," said McFarlane, who was crowned Ultimate Bare Knuckle Boxing British light heavyweight champion 18 months ago.

"I feel as though I’ve still got more to give. But it’s all still a bit raw at the moment so I will continue to give it some more thought.”

An option could be for him to fight on the undercard of the Prizefighter final at the O2 Arena in London in June.