Marco McCullough could not fulfill his dream of emulating his uncle Tommy Waite and winning a Commonwealth title.

The Belfast man faced Englishman Isaac Lowe on the Frampton-Quigg undercard at the Manchester Arena and was stopped on his feet after eight rounds.

The ring walks gave a taste of what it will be like in a few hours time, with a huge Belfast support roaring McCullough into the ring, and the Irish support roared their man on till the bitter end.

An even enough first round saw Lowe land a greater number of punches, but it was McCullough who seemed to land the heavier shots against the slippery 22 year old.

Lowe, seemingly wary of McCullough’s size and power, fought off his jab in the second round before landing a nice straight to win the round..

A scrappier third round saw both trade to the body, with Lowe perhaps getting the better, before the Belfast man landed a particularly eye-catching counter right.

The Morecambe feather began to plant his feet more in the fourth and landed several big shots, but McCullough would finish the round strong.

The Shankhill Road boxer had a tough fifth round, finding himself hurt to the body early and cut over the left eye, but McCullough recovered well to fight back and finish the round strongly again.

Lowe controlled the early stages of round six but the pair begin to trade heavy shots from the midway point on and it was the bloodied McCullough who seemed to be getting the better of the exchanges, much to the delight of his large support..

The English youngster reverted to his boxing in the seventh stanza, comprehensively taking the round.

The dramatic eight saw the bout come to an end. Lowe began much like the seventh round, but would hurt McCullough and following a barrage of unanswered shots, trainer John Breen threw the towel in for McCullough and brought the fight to a halt.

The disappointing loss sees McCullough drop to 14(9)-3(2), while new champion Lowe improves to 12(5)-0-1.