Boxing: McEwan win is a sore one

Unbeaten Edinburgh middleweight Craig McEwan had to toil hard as he racked up his 19th consecutive win in an American boxing ring by outpointing tough Californian, Danny Perez at the Pechanga Casino, Temecula, California.

The former Clovenstone Scottish amateur champion from Wester Hailes admitted that his victory was no cakewalk, saying: "A first round clash of heads left me with a bothersome cut and in two subsequent rounds roughhouse fighter Perez threw me to the canvas, which I subsequently learned led to me damaging my ankle ligaments, seriously compromising my ability to stick-and-move as I had planned.

"It was far from a good performance so I wasn't surprised when one ring judge scored the bout a draw although the other two made me a 7-3 winner."

McEwan recently returned to Edinburgh for the birth of his son and his coach, Freddie Roach, said: "Craig has been away for two months and it showed as he was just not fit enough for the job in hand against Perez.''