Ricky Burns lost his WBO lightweight title on a unanimous points decision to the impressive Terence Crawford at the SECC in Glasgow.
The 30-year-old from Coatbridge could not be faulted for heart or bravery during 12 tough rounds in front of a 10,000 sell-out crowd.
However, this time he came up short against the 26-year-old unbeaten American, who was simply too fast and too slick and well worth the judges' scorecards which showed 116- 112, 117-111 and 116-112 in his favour.
Promoter Eddie Hearn admitted beforehand that Burns, unbeaten in seven years, would have to find his top form if he was to retain his belt.
He was struggling against Jose Gonzalez last May until the Puerto Rican quit and against Ray Beltran, in September, he controversially earned a draw albeit after having his jaw broken in the second round.
There was little controversy about this outcome with Burns admitting afterwards that the better man won.
The atmosphere inside the Glasgow arena was at fever pitch as he entered the ring after the challenger, the lengthy preamble of introductions and national anthems serving to increase the tension.
The Scot looked to edge a cagey first round with some solid scoring jabs and good defensive work but the Nebraskan revealed quick hands which kept the champions' mind concentrated.
A good right-hand from Burns in the second round had the crowd cheering but there was still caution from both fighters.
Crawford looked to grow in confidence with some good shots in the next round, in which both men opened out more, and Burns was on the ropes in the early part of the fourth round, having to use all his experience to keep Crawford at bay.
The fight was warming up nicely but for his part, Burns was going backwards more often than he would have wanted and having to work off the ropes with a tight defence.
Crawford was starting to dominate the centre of the ring, forcing the pace and finding the target with some good shots, as the crowd fell ominously silent.
The American was warned for the use of the elbow in the seventh after another clinch but he found the target with a terrific left which Burns had to shrug off.
Burns appeared to be in some trouble again early in the next round, covering himself on the ropes as Crawford unleashed another flurry of punches.
The Scot dug deep, freed himself up with typical grit and determination but it was obvious Crawford fancied his chances, fending off a strong start to the ninth round by Burns and invariably coming out better when they both swapped punches.
An exciting 10th round saw punches being swapped by two increasingly tired fighter but there was always the feeling that Crawford was on top.
Tiredness underpinned the closing two rounds, but Burns took some punishment wearing the face of a man who knew his reign was over.
Burns was magnanimous in defeat, acknowledging Crawford had deserved his victory.
"It was a tricky fight, very awkward," the Scot said on Sky Sports 2. "I found it hard to get my shots off. He was always playing with distance. The best man won on the night. But I'll be back.
"I took a good body shot but I managed to recover. I took a head shot. I proved I could take it.
"The better man won on the night. He boxed well - good on him.
"I was finding it hard. He was in and out of distance all night. You can see why he's being touted as the next big thing in America.
"There's some big fights out there for me over here as well, but the first choice for me is to get the rematch."
He added: "I feel I belong at world level. I think I proved that tonight against Terence. It's buzzing at world level. We'll just have to wait and see. I'll be back in the gym in a couple of weeks, raring to go."
Crawford seemed well up for a rematch with the Scot.
"Oh yeah," he said. "Talk to my promoter and we'll do it again."
He added: "We knew Ricky had nice jab so we were looking to throw him off his jab and make him reach.
"We trained real hard for this fight - just like for any fight. I wasn't worried about the rounds."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article