DARREN Cruise lost a last minute clash with a British light heavyweight prospect in York Hall on Friday night.

The Castlerea native took the risk of taking a last minute clash at a higher weight for substantial financial reward, but didn’t travel to London to take a pay check.

The super middleweight, with middleweight title aspirations, was out pointed by light heavyweight Tom Baker at the famous venue.

Baker won all 10 rounds on the referee’s scorecard, but ringside reports suggest Cruise gave a good account of himself and a number of the rounds were said to be tight.

Cruise, who only returned to boxing after over a year out in 2014 will now target a return to super middleweight and might even attempt to cut to middleweight if a title shot arose.