Feargal McCrory spent a lot of time away from his loved ones for Friday’s opportunity in Washington, D.C., only to lose for the first time as a pro, stopped in the eighth round by WBA junior lightweight titleholder Lamont Roach Jr.

“I’m devastated,” McCrory told the media afterward. “I wanted to win. I believed I could win. I trained to win. But listen: full credit to Lamont. … Tonight I lost to the better man. He hit me more than I hit him. I don’t know what more to say.”

Roach dropped McCrory in the third round with a left hook, floored him two more times in the fourth with body shots, hurt him again in the seventh and pummeled him in the eighth until McCrory’s trainer asked the ringside athletic commission officials to stop the fight.

“The first one was a flash knockdown. I was disappointed,” McCrory said. “The other two were good knockdowns, solid shots. But you know what? We bite down and we keep f***ing going. Tonight I was second best. You can’t be second best in a two-horse race.”

McCrory had no complaints about his trainer protecting him. That’s the responsibility of his team, he said, and not the fighter.

“Thank you to my trainer, Colin Morgan, for stopping the fight, because I’m not going to stop it. I trust him enough. He made the call, and I respect that decision as being the right call,” McCrory said. “If your cornerman is braver than your fighter, you’re f***ed.”

Ireland’s 31-year-old Feargal is now 16-1 (8 KOs).

“I keep going. I’m heartbroken, but I’ll come again,” McCrory said. “We go back to the drawing board. We’ve a lot of things we’ve got to fix. Tonight we rolled the dice. We dared to be good. We came to the champion’s backyard. And we were second best. But you know what? When this fight was offered to me, we jumped on it. We knew Lamont was a good fighter. They don’t give out world titles.”

In the immediate aftermath, hours or even minutes after a bout, fighters are always asked what’s next. For McCrory, that will be some time off.

“I’m going on holiday in a few days. I’m going to drink Guinness,” he said. “And I want to spend time with my family. I’ve been away for a long time.”

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