BARE knuckle boxer Sean McFarlane admitted he ‘didn’t know where he was’ when his hopes of a swansong victory were ended by Scott McHugh at The 02 in London on Saturday.

The 38-year-old from Chapelford says he will not be changing his mind about retiring, having done so once before to feature in the BKB Prizefighter competition earlier this year.

“It was a good fight,” said Optimum Boxing’s McFarlane, a traffic management foreman.

“The first round was quite close.

“It was quite an even fight but he caught me late in the second round with a good shot.

“I went down and I didn’t know where I was to be honest. I was semi knocked out. And that was it.

“I’m a little disappointed. I worked really hard for it and I thought I would be good enough to get the win.

“The lad has improved a lot, an up-and-coming fighter 13 years younger than me.

“I don’t think the age came into it though. It was a bit of a duel, a shot-for-shot sort of fight and when one of us got the better shot that was it.”

Both men ended up in the wars, with McFarlane admitting to suffering symptoms of concussion for several days afterwards.

“My face is a bit of a mess at the minute,” he said.

“McHugh’s messaged me, and he’s broke his ribs and both hands.

“It was a good fight and a brilliant show.

“But that’s definitely it for me.

“I’ve done the best I can do at this level.

“The lads who are coming into this sport now are athletes.

“I’d have to quit work to keep up with the lads at this level.

“I’m 38, time’s not with me now, so it’s best to call it a day now and spend more time with the family.”

He feels proud about his achievements.

“I won a belt at light heavyweight and made the move to elite level, which is the level I wanted to fight at.

“I’m proud of myself, I’ve had six wins. Three losses were against three tough lads.

“I’ve achieved what I could achieve at the time.

“I didn’t start off with an amazing amateur career like some of these lads.

“I started off in The Army, then came out doing unlicensed boxing, so to get to the level I got to I’m really proud of myself and I put a lot of effort into it.”

He plans to stick around in the sport.

“The aim now is to have a bit of time off, rest, spend some time with the family and then I’ll be going into some sort of coaching role at Optimism Boxing helping them out, just gaining the experience and seeing if I can get some up and coming boxers to sign up,” he said.

“I just want some experience and give a little bit back to the sport if I can.

“In September I’m going to be in the corner for Paul Shredder, who did my corner on Saturday.

“I’ll help him out, so that’ll be the first step.”