Gallacher's hurt knee ruins world title shot

Standing 2.032m tall, Wanganui Assassins Guild fighter Kyle Gallacher's greatest asset is his long leg kicks, but carrying a lingering knee ligament injury into the IFMA Muay Thai World Championships proved his Achilles heel on Sunday.

On Malaysia's Langkawi Island, Gallacher was defeated by referee stoppage in the second round of his opening tournament match against Ukrainian Yaroslav Remyha in the cruiserweight under-86kg A class division.

He said his knee, which was injured eight weeks before last month's River City Rumble event in Wanganui, had kept him from fighting at full potential.

"Sorry everyone, Ukraine was strong, but more than that I wasn't ready," the Wanganui fighter announced on Facebook after the bout. "Need to take care of my injuries until I'm 100 per cent before I fight again."

Gallacher has pulled out of his Pro WMC (World Muay Thai Council) Oceania title fight against Charles August in Australia.

"I can't train properly until my knee's better so not going to fight until then," he said.

"I was winning the fight until the second round when I started to gas out ... I would have been okay to continue but my fitness just wasn't there."

Gallacher said he was shifting his focus to supporting his fellow Guild member Lou Fuller in her under-45kg women's grade match yesterday.