KEY POINTS:
"If it had lasted just 40 seconds longer, he would have won the fight - he was ahead on the cards," said Shane Cameron's manager Ken Reinsfield after Friday night's bloody end to Cameron's bout with Nigerian fighter Friday Ahunanya.
Cameron lost in a blood-spattered finish when the
Las Vegas-based Nigerian twice knocked him down before referee Freddy Marsh stopped the contest in the 12th and final round.
Cameron needed stitches to close gashes over both his eyes - impediments that limited his field of vision from as early as the third round. His notoriously thin skin again proved to be susceptible.
His vision impaired by the flow of blood late in the fight, Cameron couldn't stop his opponent landing heavy blows and the referee stopped the fight after the second knockdown.
"Shane told me that he just couldn't see the shots coming," said Reinsfield. "It was devastating but that's the fight game - it's not tennis and it's not golf. It's tough and if he had gone just 40 more seconds, they would have been raising his hands over his head because he would have won that fight because he was three points ahead on the cards."
Reinsfield was philosophical about the referee's decision to continue with the fight after the ring doctor examined Cameron late in the fight, and said the match couldn't have been stopped earlier because Cameron was winning.
"It was a tough decision for anyone to make. The doctor can make recommendations to the referee, who is the one who decides, but Shane was winning that fight."
Reinsfield said he also could have stopped Cameron from continuing: "I think I made the right call.
"If I'd stopped him from coming out and then told him later that he was ahead on the cards, well, it's a tough one."
He said Cameron also wanted to continue. "There's not a gram of quit in that guy; he's a terrific guy and a real fighter and a real champion and I don't think anyone at that fight would have gone home disappointed with what they saw.
"Shane is already upbeat about things - he is telling me that we will learn from it and we will re-group and press on. And we will. I know it is a bit of a cliche but it's still true - you really do learn from your defeats and Shane Cameron will be a better fighter because of this.
"I have no doubts about his ability to be a champion; about his courage and his desire; the only thing that I have a question about is his skin.
"Some guys cut and other guys don't. Shane does and he is also a heavy bleeder."