Despite his second setback in as many bouts, Williams Lake pro boxer Stuart McLellan isn’t letting it bother him.
McLellan, 28, was stopped in the third round Sept. 18 in a 147-pound Canadian title bout versus Calgary’s Steve Claggett in his home town at the Deerfoot Inn and Casino.
“There’s no crying about it,” McLellan said. “You just get back in the gym.”
Things appeared to be going well for McLellan early, now with 12 wins, two losses and three draws in his career, until Claggett dropped a stinging body shot to McLellan’s liver to end the bout.
“It was going good,” McLellan said.
“I felt really good coming in and had a good training camp. I was just starting to get my rhythm and find my timing and he hit me with the old Micky Ward — tapped me in the head then dropped me a liver shot. I beat the count but I was in no shape to continue, but it happens.”
It was the first time McLellan had been stopped in a fight since his first amateur fight in 1998.
“He’s had almost 30 [pro] fights. That experience definitely played a factor,” he said. “He’s in your face all the time, always moving.”
McLellan, meanwhile, isn’t looking to take any time off and wants to step back in the ring as soon as he can.
“I’ve got something lined up for October but can’t discuss the details until it’s official,” he said. “I was in the gym two days after the fight [training and getting ready].”