Boxing: McCullough struggles to stay on target for title tilt

ULSTER'S Wayne McCullough stayed on course for a world title attempt, but only after struggling to a split points decision over the veteran Juan Polo Perez in Corpus Christi, Texas.

McCullough, the World Boxing Council's No 1 challenger, wants to fight Mexico's super-bantamweight champion, Erik Morales, later in the year, but will have to improve after his 10-round bout with the Colombian.

Perez, stopped in two rounds by Naseem Hamed in 1995, shocked the "Pocket Rocket" with his early assaults and the judges' scoring could hardly have been closer, with two voting for McCullough, 95-94, and one for the Colombian, 95-94.

The former world super-flyweight champion Perez was expected to offer little threat to McCullough, but the former bantamweight title holder finished with a cut at the top of his head after the gruelling contest.

Having been warned for low blows, the 27-year-old McCullough was deducted a point in the ninth, but furious final- round assaults, and his work- rate, may have given him the verdict.