Stephen Smith's wait for consecutive victories will have to continue as he fell to a gruesome defeat in Las Vegas on Saturday night.
It's been over two years now since Smith has enjoyed back-to-back wins in the ring but the fighting spirit of the Liverpool boxer remains in no doubt as he was eager to battle on this weekend, despite the fact that his ear was literally hanging off.
The referee was forced to call a halt to the contest in the ninth round after inspecting the damage to Smith's left ear and deemed him unable to continue in his meeting with Mexico's Francisco Vargas.
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An accidental clash of heads is what caused the injury and, with Smith unable to fight on, the judges' scorecards were consulted and the victory was awarded to Vargas by a Technical Decision of 89-82, 88-83 and 88-83.
Having come up short in recent shots at the WBA super-featherweight title and IBF super-featherweight title, Smith admitted that retirement would become a serious possibility if he felt that he was unable to compete at the elite level.
"This is boxing and I know having had two chances, I might only get one more shot," Smith said after his loss.
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"For me it is not about going back to British level, I want to win a world title and defeat can ruin that."
Smith, a former Commonwealth Games gold medallist, thankfully received immediate medical treatment and had the grisly wound stitched up before he was allowed to return home.
"Thanks very much for all your supportive messages last night, read them all and they mean a lot," the 32-year-old wrote on Twitter.
"Went to hospital and got my ear stitched back up so hopefully all will heal well."
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