Boxing: McEwan bemoans his luck as cut ruins fight

CRAIG McEwan, the Edinburgh middleweight, experienced further bad luck at the weekend when his bout against Alastair Warren at Kilmarnock’s Grand Hall was stopped in the first round after his opponent suffered a nasty gash above his left eye.

McEwan had hoped to celebrate his 31st birthday by making a statement of intent. But he fears that he has become jinxed since returning to his homeland from the States 18 months ago after racking up 19 wins from 21 contests.

Referee Douglas Campbell declared the bout a technical draw after ruling that the Huddersfield fighter had received the injury in an accidental clash of heads.

McEwan, who hopes to get a slot on the undercard of Ricky Burns’ world title defence on 11 May, said: “Bad luck is becoming the story of my life. Maybe I should have remained in the States. The problem was I wasn’t getting individual coaching. But, since I’ve come back, none of the promoters, apart from Alex Morrison, has wanted to know me and I can’t understand why.”