'Dared to be great!' - Josh Padley takes heart from performance in Shakur Stevenson defeat

Josh Padley admitted he could take pride in his performance against Shakur Stevenson after he "dared to be great" in the pair's unexpected WBC lightweight title clash.

The Briton stepped in to replace Floyd Schofield midweek at Riyadh Season's The Last Crescendo and was a rank outsider going into the contest with the American.

• Read more | Relive all the action from Riyadh Season's The Last Crescendo as Dmitry Bivol and Joseph Parker triumph

Stevenson ultimately proved too much for the rising star, and handed him a first career loss after dropping him several times on the way to a ninth-round TKO triumph.

But despite the result, Padley still feels there is plenty he could take from his performance and said as much in the aftermath as he reflected on a whirlwind of a week.

"I would have liked to have got the [dozen] rounds out, but the conditioning wasn't quite there," he told The Stomping Ground. "I dared to be great, and it didn't pay off.

"[But it was] a three-weight world champion at four days' notice. There were times when I feel like I should have been to slip [around] his jab.

"No shame in trying my hardest and I'll be back to fight another day. His timing was on perfect point. There's no regrets. We'll rebuild, we'll regroup and we'll come back.

"There were times where he took the wind out of me. There's levels to this game and I'm quite not at that level, but I'm sure if I have the right fights, then one day, I can be.

"Let's not take anything away from Shakur, he's a world-class operator. It will sink in when I get home. It's been a roller-coaster. I tried my hardest."

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