Lewis Paulin vows to bounce back quickly

Edinburgh’s Lewis Paulin says he can draw on a lot of positives despite coming up short in his British featherweight title clash in London.

The 28-year-old was on the wrong end of a split decision as Cromer’s Ryan Walsh retained the Lonsdale Belt for a sixth time at York Hall on Friday night.

It was the first defeat of Paulin’s career after reeling off 12 consecutive victories since signing with Alex Morrison in 2015.

However after a closely-fought 12 rounds, it was 33-year-old Walsh whose hand was raised.

“At the time I thought I edged it. My team thought I had as well,” Paulin said. “I’ve had a lot of people in boxing contact me saying how well they thought I fought. If people in the sport hadn’t heard of me before then I think they will have now. I was the massive underdog so I had nothing to lose but I really enjoyed being top of the bill and the whole hype of the event.

“I don’t think my cause was helped by the fact there were three English judges. This has made me more hungry to be involved in more fights like this. Although my record says it’s a defeat, I think this will open up a lot of doors for me.

“I spoke to Ryan afterwards and he was pretty complimentary and knew he was in a hard fight. He couldn’t find a lot of footage on me so I think I caught him by surprise. I definitely hurt him. I know I can compete at this level.”

Paulin will now look to get back in the ring as soon as possible.

“I think there are some big fights out there for me,” he said. “I hadn’t fought for 13 months before Friday so it was a good level to get back to. I’ll see where Alex thinks we go from here.”