Inverness boxer explains why he turned down third Scottish title fight and take break from sport
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CALUM Turnbull says he has turned down a third chance at a Scottish title fight for now as he needs to take a break from boxing.
The Inverness City Boxing Club athlete says he wants to take some time away from the sport after suffering defeat to Dylan Arbuckle in their Scottish and Celtic Super Bantamweight clash in Glasgow.
Last Thursday saw the two fighters go head to head in a rematch from their original Scottish title fight in Inverness in October which Arbuckle won on points after 10 rounds.
However in Glasgow last week, Arbuckle retained his Scottish title and won the Celtic title after stopping Turnbull in the eighth round.
As Arbuckle is now Celtic Super Bantamweight champion, he has vacated his Scottish title and Turnbull was offered the chance to fight for it again with a different opponent.
However, the 24-year-old says he turned down the chance of another title fight, saying he needs to take a break from the sport
He said: “I got offered another title shot, now Dylan has won the Celtic title, the Scottish title has to be vacated because it is an area title.
“I was asked to have the first shot at it, but I turned it down.
“I need a break from boxing and I need to get my head straight.
“It was a good opportunity and I was told after the two performances I put on against Dylan, it was felt I deserved it.
“But we’ll see what happens, right now I am looking to have a bit of family time and enjoy life.
“That’s the thing about boxing, it is quite hard to enjoy your social life. Any committed boxer will tell you that. Right now, I want to focus on my work, make some good money and enjoy life. We’ll see what happens in the next few months or so.”
Both boxers were evenly match in the early stages of the 10-round contest last week.
However, Arbuckle landed a blow to the body which hurt Turnbull in the fifth round which he took time to come back from.
Arbuckle then dropped Turnbull in the seventh round before the referee stopped the contest in the eighth.
Turnbull says he had no issue with the decision from the referee.
He said: “It was an even contest and looking at the scorecards, it was 73-73. Then I got dropped.
We stuck to the gameplan, but unfortunate for me, he kept himself composed and managed to see it through.
In the fifth round, he managed to get me with a kidney shot and after that I was trying to survive the fight.
“When I walked back to the changing room with a cut eye, I thought that I broke a rib, it was so sore and the pain was horrible.
“The referee did his job, I can’t really argue about that. I was gutted that he stopped it, but he was just doing his job.
“I do feel that if I could have survived that eighth round, I could have bounced back.
“When I got caught in the fifth, I was sore for the majority of the round. But then I bounced back in the sixth, if I could have held on a bit longer and if the referee was more lenient, things might have ended differently.
“But the referee was just doing his job, so I can’t take that away from him.”
Turnbull is looking forward to taking a break from boxing, but plans to return to action in the future.
He hopes that he will become a better fighter for his experiences
He said: “Fighting someone of Arbuckle’s calibre so early in my career was great.
“You see boxers go 10 to 12 fights where they are guaranteed wins. Then they get too big for their boots and think they are ready for big title fights. I am glad I have suffered the worst of it at the start of my career.”
