Most of the crowd that had gathered at Newcastle's Telewest Arena were clearly expecting a knockout from the Olympic heavyweight champion, but it failed to materialise over six hard-fought rounds.

Harrison was undeterred, though, happy to emerge unscathed against an opponent who refused to be dominated.

"McCafferty was a strong guy," said Harrison. "I expected to go six round and I've gone six rounds.

"All credit to him. Unlike Mike Middleton, he gave it a go."

But Harrison admitted he still had plenty to work on, insisting: "There's lots to learn. There were things I was doing wrong in there."

Sporting a new hairstyle but showing familiar composure, Harrison started well, moving easily and mixing his punches well.

But as the rounds went by, he began to breathe heavily and McCafferty's confidence grew.

But the Scot was less sure about Harrison's world championship chances, pointing out that there are "many tough fighters out there".

"I was fairly beaten to be honest," he said of the contest.

"He's physically very strong inside so I couldn't get the leverage."

But McCafferty questioned Harrison's stamina: "After the fourth round he was getting tired."

The bout was delayed briefly as fighters, entourage and audience stood for 10 tolls of the fight bell as a mark of respect for the victims of the terrorist attacks in America.

Earlier, Britain's Herbie Hide suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Zambia's Joseph Chingangu

The former WBO heavyweight champion started brightly but was knocked down by a punch that many ringside believed came after the referee had asked the fighters to break.

Hide never recovered, falling four times before the referee intervened to halt the fight in the second round.

The defeat will likely stop his comeback with his options for future meaningful fights now severely diminished.