THERE was to be no comeback win for Tyrone McKenna at the SSE Arena on Saturday night as his rematch with Mohamed Mimoune ended in defeat.
The pair met in February 2020 with McKenna claiming a points victory that was vigorously protested by the Frenchman at the time and he exacted revenge on enemy soil with his body attack seeing him settle the argument in the fifth round.
It was not looking good for him early as the jabot McKenna had developed a welt over his left eye that Mimoune could barely, if at all, see out of, but perhaps knowing he was in danger of being stopped due to the injury, threw caution to the wind and emptied the tank by dropping McKenna to the body in the fourth and then ending it with a similar shot in the following round.
'The Mighty Celt' was coming off the shortest of retirements following his defeat of Lewis Crocker at the same venue in December, but couldn't bounce back with a win, yet in typical fashion he went out on his shield.
"I have think he knew he didn't have many rounds left with that eye if he was getting referred to the doctor and put his foot on the gas," McKenna reflected.
"He knew he was hurting me to the body and every time he did, he was stepping up. Eventually I hit the ground and couldn't breathe. If I wanted to, I couldn't get up. I've a chin of granite but a glass body.
McKenna lands a jab on Mimoune's badly swollen eye 
"He didn't expect how I was going to box. I stayed on the back foot to make it awkward and keep off my jab. When he did step in I was hitting him with left hands and it was working brilliant. I was cruising it until he did open to the body more and when he knew he was getting reactions, he targeted it as he couldn't hurt me to the head. Maybe I should lay off the Guinness.
"It was entertaining while it lasted and we gave the crowd their money's worth. I loved the fight as it was going on and wished I could have continued, but just that body shot - there's nothing you can do when you are hurt like that."
A war was anticipated from the off, but it wasn't quite the case as this battle of the southpaws was cagey for the opening round with McKenna perhaps just shading it off his jab as he was busier despite being tagged with a left hook, but also landed one of his own.
The long jab from McKenna was a good range finder as he doubled it with a follow-up check hook, with Mimoune stalking and seeming content to wait for his moments to land with intent.
McKenna's ramrod jab had almost closed Mimoune's left eye by the third which left the visitor no option but to up the tempo and start throwing heavy shots with more regularity as the fight came to life.
McKenna roars with defiance at the Frenchman in the fourth 
The question was whether Mimoune was able to continue and as he was sent out for the fourth in a mind to try and get the job done before an intervention.
With that in mind, he threw the kitchen sink at McKenna who was troubled by a low blow, but there was no doubt about what followed as the Belfast man was down from a body shot.
Up he got and although seemingly hurt, he let out a roar of defiance and began throwing heavy fire of his own as this fight was now following the predicted script.
At times, referee Hugh Russell jr seemed to be having a long look at McKenna who was perhaps taking too many clean blows, but then would reply to close out a thrilling round with the crowd roaring their appreciation.
It was straight back to business in the fifth but Mimoune knew he had made a dent with that body shot and he found another, this time with the right and it was clear McKenna was not getting up, counted out with 45 seconds gone in the round as his record slips to 23-5-1.
With two defeats in as many fights, will this spell the end for the 34-year-old? He has vowed not to make a hasty decision, but acknowledged it is a question he must answer in time.
Both men hold McKenna's robe that displayed a message of solidarity with Palestine after the fight 
"I jumped the gun last time and retired a bit early, but this time I'll just see what the options are - maybe do more sit-ups," he said with a rueful smile.
"If I had a better body I would have won that easy and the doctor said he would have stoped it if he was referred to the swollen eye. I was probably only one round from beating him.
"When I hit him in the first it began to swell and I just kept hitting him with the jab, but he got to the body before he got to the referee.
"Maybe we'll do a third fight, we'll see. He cried for four years and I gave him the rematch when I didn't have to. It was a hard fight and knew this would be a hard fight, but it was one I wanted to revisit and I'm glad we did as he deserved the opportunity."
