Beaten Georgie Smith was today planning to fight on - using the praise of British champion Derek Roche and a packed crowd as his inspiration.

Smith, 28, from Basildon, failed by 117-111 on points in his first bid for the UK welterweight crown after one of the bravest challenges seen this decade for such a title.

He said after his third defeat in 20 bouts: "I'm still confident. I think if I have a couple of warm-up fights, rather than the one I had for this bout, I can get a bit snappier and be a contender again."

Ultra-strong Roche controlled the early stages in Carlisle on Saturday with his awesome rate of punching, but Smith caught him in an even sixth round, and largely transformed the contest after that.

Roche, a Leeds-born Irish-man, rattled Smith with a heavy blow in the ninth, but the new towner produced two outstanding, dominant rounds immediately after that.

His spirit was unflinching throughout, and his only regret might be that, from the start, he became embroiled in a battle of two fighters keen to come forward - rather than trying to pick his punches at more distance against a man as powerful and unrelenting as Roche.

Smith left yesterday for a week's holiday in Spain, and his dad George said today: "I'm very proud of him.

"He couldn't have shown any more character. He got hit, but he got up and he came back near the end.

"Roche has grown in stature as a fighter, but he said afterwards that he has never had such a tough fight and that he couldn't believe Georgie was able to push him off."

Smith senior added: "George thinks he could have been a bit sharper and at the moment is determined to carry on and rise up again.

"In retrospect, the only thing he might have done differently in the fight was trying to use his jab more to keep Roche at bay, but you have to remember that Roche never stopped throwing punches."

Georgie Smith - set to fight on

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