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Former NRL star Paul Gallen showed his trademark resilience and heart but ultimately fell short of claiming the Australian and Australasian heavyweight titles as Kris Terzievski earned a unanimous decision victory.
All three judges scored the bout 97-92 in favour of Terzievski, who had a point deducted in the seventh for pushing.
"What a warrior man," Terzievski, who had a 14cm height advantage and was eight years younger than Gallen, said of his opponent.
Gallen refused to say whether he would retire from boxing, his second sporting career after 19 years in the NRL.
However, as the crowd chanted his name, he said he was pleased that people finally warmed to him in the ring.
"It took a little while to turn most of 'youse' around but hopefully I have now and we'll see what happens next," Gallen said.
"There's so many people from the boxing world come up to me tonight, before the fight, saying thank you for everything you've done for Australian boxing.
"That's something that I'm really proud of.
"[I'm] Happy to promote the sport and take it back to where it is at the moment and, fingers crossed, those guys can keep it going."
The pro-Gallen crowd had to wait to get behind their man, as Terzievski showed his class in the early rounds, using his superior boxing skills and hand speed to stay out of trouble.
Gallen looked increasingly sluggish as he was forced to chase the taller man around the ring, while Terzievski tenderised his body with a series of powerful left hooks.
However, as Gallen appeared to be slumping to a heavy defeat, the 40-year-old found some extra resilience, wobbling his tiring opponent with an overhand right in the ninth round.
The crowd sensed a stunning comeback, roaring Gallen on as both men hauled themselves back off their stools for the final three minutes.
However, Gallen ultimately fell short as Terzievski avoided any meaningful confrontation in the final round to see out the win.
It was Gallen's second professional defeat, leaving him with a career record of 12-2-1, while Terzievski moves to 11-1-1.
On the undercard Harry Garside (3-0) defended his Australian lightweight title against Layton McFerran (5-2) with a seventh round TKO.
Garside dominated the contest with a flashy performance filled with speed and accuracy, but still left experts ringside wanting for his lack of knockout power.
The lack of a final punch may be explained by yet another hand injury that left Garside with blood seeping through his wrapping at the end of the bout.
However, that issue is perhaps more concerning for his long term career prospects.
Also on the undercard, Nikita Tszyu (2-0) destroyed Mason Smith with a brutal first-round TKO that his older brother Tim proclaimed as a ten out of ten performance.
Tszyu unloaded his astonishing power on the previously undefeated Smith (5-1), who was knocked down thanks to a thunderous upper cut before the referee stepped in just before the end of the round.
Sam Goodman also secured victory, beating Fumiya Fuse to claim the IBF inter-continental and WBO Oriental super bantamweight titles.
Look back on how all the action unfolded in our live blog.
By Simon Smale
Thank you for being with us
Well, that was a really entertaining way to spend a Wednesday evening.
Thanks so much for being with us for it all.
We saw some great boxing tonight, as well as some great perseverance from Paul Gallen, who showed such tremendous heart in defeat.
There's some more top fights coming up in the next couple of months, including Kambosos-Haney and Opetaia-Breidis right here in Australia, so I hope you'll be with us for those fights too.
Thanks for all your kind words in the comments.
Have a good evening.
By Simon Smale
By Simon Smale
'That's something that I'm really proud of': Gallen
Paul Gallen is still speaking about the growth of boxing that he has helped.
"There's so many people from the boxing world come up to me tonight, before the fight, saying thank you for everything you've done for Australian boxing and that's something that I'm really proud of.
"I said that from day one, I'm really happy to promote this sport and promote these other boxers.
"I'm so happy for Harry [Garside] and Sam [Goodman], Has Hamden and the girls too ... and Nikita [Tszyu].
"Happy to promote the sport and take it back to where it is at the moment and fingers cross those guys can keep going.
"It took a little while to turn most of youse around but hopefully I have now and we'll see what happens next."
Audience comment by Han
Enjoyed your call as always Simon. I wish I had some of Gallens resilience and some of young Harry’s lightness on his feet. Not too sure about Nikita yet. I hope he can gain some maturity and humility to match his power hits. And the ladies did the sport proud as has Gallen and I wish him and you well.
Audience comment by Steve
Great blog Simon, thank you!<br>