Wayne McCullough is confident of winning another world title

Belfast boxer Wayne McCullough has dismissed rumours that he will retire from the fight game.

McCullough, beaten comprehensively by WBO featherweight champion Scott Harrison in March, said he wanted another crack at a world title.

The Las Vegas-based McCullough was hospitalised after that Glasgow contest and many pundits felt the 'Pocket Rocket' should hang up his gloves.

But McCullough believes he still has what it takes to claim a second world crown to add to the WBC bantamweight belt he won in Japan eight years ago.

"I will retire on my own terms when I am good and ready," said McCullough.

"Right now I am concentrating on getting back into fight shape.

"The thought of retirement has never crossed my mind because as soon as you start thinking about retirement then you might as well do so.

"Many world champions have lost worse than I did and they have come back stronger."

McCullough was treated overnight in Glasgow's Southern General Hospital for dehydration and exhaustion after his defeat.

His badly damaged left ear was also drained and bandaged.

Harrison was stronger than anyone I have ever fought - I felt like I was fighting a welterweight Wayne McCullough

But McCullough, who has never been stopped, was angered by the storm of criticism levelled towards his team for not pulling him out of the fight in the torrid middle rounds.

"I was never hit by more than two or three shots in a row and I know I never felt close to going down," said McCullough.

. "I may have been hit by big shots but my head was always clear. I remember after each round sitting in my corner and looking across the ring to where my wife was sitting.

"If she thought for one minute there was something wrong with me she would have come to my corner but she knew I was fine.

"My trainer Kenny Croom was also criticised for not stopping the fight but if a fighter is fighting back with strong legs, as I was, there is no reason for the fight to be stopped."

McCullough paid a rich tribute to his conqueror Harrison with whom he had become embroiled in a heated war of words prior to the fight.

"I never make excuses when I lose and I never will. The truth is that Harrison was stronger than anyone I have ever fought - I felt like I was fighting a welterweight."