Alex Winwood has fallen short in his bid to create Australian boxing history, but he won over a legion of new fans during his lion-hearted loss to WBA minimum-weight champion Thammanoon Niyomtrong in Perth.
Winwood, fighting for just the fifth time professionally, was aiming to become the fastest Australian male to win a boxing world title.
But Niyomtrong's experience and steely defence proved too hard to overcome, with the Thai star winning by unanimous decision, 114-112, 114-112, 113-113 at a near-capacity HBF Stadium in Perth on Saturday night.
The result means Jeff Fenech still holds the Australian record of being the fastest male to win a world title after taking just seven professional bouts to snare the IBF bantamweight world title in 1985.
Niyomtrong entered the bout with a perfect 24-0 record and 11 successful title defences since 2016.
But the Thai star hadn't fought since July, 2022 - a break of more than two years that the Winwood camp felt would play heavily in their favour.
But it wasn't to be for Winwood, who got knocked down several times during the bout, and looked gone for all money in the seventh before bravely fighting on right until the end.
"I will be back. I dared to be great, against the longest reigning world champion," Winwood said after the loss.
"My idea is to come back. Watch me be great again. Give me another shot.
"I thought it was a really hard fight. I got knocked down a couple of times, and that was the decision that swayed it all.
"If you get knocked down, the points get taken from you. But I still boxed like a champion for 12 rounds.
"This is not the last of me."
Winwood had the better of the opening two rounds, with his lightning-quick left jab causing Niyomtrong some problems.
But it was the fourth round that proved to be the first significant turning point.
First, Winwood was left with a bloodied nose after copping a series of big blows.
And late in the round he was sent to the canvas after copping another big punch.
Winwood managed to see out the round, but the odds were well and truly stacked against him from that point.
Niyomtrong showed his full array of weaponry in the seventh.
A vicious series of blows knocked Winwood to the canvas midway through the round, with the Australian needing almost eight counts to regain his composure.
It was a fight for survival for the rest of the round for Winwood, who was clearly dazed and struggling to see clearly as he copped blow after blow.
Somehow he made it to the bell despite his defences flailing, and he kept his opponent at bay in the eighth to give himself a chance.
Winwood was knocked down to the canvas again in the ninth, but it wasn't as damaging as the blows he received in the seventh round.
The 27-year-old bravely fought on, and even landed some decent blows of his own in the 10th.
It all came down to the 12th round, with Winwood knowing he needed a knockout to walk away with an unlikely victory.
Winwood gave it everything he had, unleashing a series of huge swings, but Niyomtrong was too smart to fall into the trap.
"He dared to be great. He gave you guys a thrilling fight," former boxing champion Danny Green said of Winwood.
On the undercard, Blake Minto snared the WBC Australasia Welterweight title bout with a unanimous decision win over Steve Gago.
In the WBA Oceania flyweight title bout, 39-year-old Australian Louisa Hawton defeated Viviana Ruiz by unanimous decision to win the belt.
And in the WA state heavyweight title, Lewis Clarke retained his title with an unanimous decision triumph over Dylan Winter.
