COURAGE was not enough. Not even when it was laced with a superb grandstand finish, which brought the big Boston crowd to their feet and set the rafters ringing in the Hynes Conference Centre, albeit with a rather biased assessment of Wayne McCullough's brave attempt to wrest the World Boxing Council version of the super bantamweight title.

Some of the abuse hurled at the referee and the three judges - well, two of them anyway - was scarcely couched in a diplomatic way, but it was shared fully by McCullough and a number of his bitterly disappointed handlers, who all felt that the young Belfastman had done enough to claim the belt.

And yet not even a generous scorer of the bout, namely this observer, could give McCullough better than a draw. Had that been agreed upon by the three ringside judges then Daniel Zaragoza, the unflappable, stony-faced Mexican would under the rules have retained his title.

As things stand, Zaragoza's victory is a further embellishment to an already distinguished boxing career, which has seen him win 54 of his 64 professional contests in which he has included 21 championship fights.

That this one may have caused some controversy, particularly among McCullough supporters, will not cause the 39-year-old to change the normally glowering features of a battle-scarred face. He will claim, and rightly so, that he did what was expected of him and left McCullough with no alternative but to throw caution to the wind in that last whirl in rounds 11 and 12.

McCullough won both those rounds, and it was this euphoria-inspiring finish which gave the Irish contingent most cause for believing that McCullough had earned the belt. But no amount of their rather unsporting jeering could alter the scoring of the judges, even though most people at the ringside couldn't hear the announcement.

After the first score, that of Barbara Perez, gave McCullough a 115 to 114 verdict, the noise was such that few realised that the other two judges, Chuck Hassett and Rick Flaherty, gave the bout to Zaragozaby the clear margin of 116 to 112.

It was a score card that nobody in the McCullough camp could accept, least of all the profoundly disappointed boxer. He immediately rejected the prospect of a rematch. "I don't ever want to box under the WBC rules again. I thought I would. get a fair verdict here in Boston but was mistaken," he said.

His bruised pride was mirrored in. the swellings around both eyes and along his shoulder blades, and given substance by the calm words of his veteran trainer, Eddie Futch. "I felt that he had done enough to win. From the eighth round onwards we were confident that he had taken the initiative. Perhaps he should have done that earlier on. As it was, Zaragoza was a very tired man at the end and if the fight had been over 15 rounds McCullough would have taken it.

"A rematch? Well that is up to Matt (Tinley). Zaragoza keeps on talking about retirement and I don't know what he will say this time. A rematch back in Ireland would certainly attract enough attention to be financially interesting for both boxers, and maybe that is the way to go.

"I am disappointed for Wayne. He is a really genuine fighter and works very hard. He has to look at his options now and he will do that with his usual intelligence within the next couple of weeks and we will take it from there," Futch said.

Tinley, McCullough's manager, was ashen-faced and unwilling to commit himself fully to a verdict. "We are all deeply disappointed for Wayne. He went into the ring as the undefeated holder of the WBC bantamweight title and he came out with nothing.

"I disagree with the verdict and I am going to make an official protest to the WBC, and the president of the organisation, Jose Suilleman, has already been made aware of that. It simply not acceptable to me that there was a four-point margin between the boxers - a five-point margin between Barbara Perez and the other two judges. That is not logical and lam certainly calling for a rematch. I don't care where it takes place. Wayne deserves justice," he said.

As for the fight itself, it has to be admitted that the 13-year gap in the ages of the two boxers was never obvious and was not fully exploited by McCullough. There will be some discussion about the fact that the Irishman was a full two pounds under the limit of 122lb at the weigh-in on Friday night. In his previous defence of the bantamweight title McCullough claimed that getting down to the 120lb limit weakened him, and yet, here he was, right on the button and claiming to be in perfect shape.

His early performance was somewhat sluggish and his punching did not have the zip which it normally does. Neither boxer is a big hitter, yet Zaragoza's punches seemed to carry more weight.

Yet not even the wily Mexican could have foreseen the ferocity of McCullough's finish. He waded in with both hands, working to the head and body. Indeed another round could well have forced a stop-page because, for the first time in the fight, Zaragoza seemed weary and was clearly showing his years.

McCullough will regret the fact that he did not make his effort earlier on. Whether he gets a second opportunity to unseat this most worthy of world champions remains to be seen, but he lost no caste at all in a typically brave effort and Ireland's reputation as a producer of good boxers didn't lose out either.