NERVES were to blame for Callum Pearson’s defeat in the quarter-finals of the Junior ABA Championships at the weekend. Up against an ABA champion from last year, Teessider James Pollock, 16-year-old Pearson won the first round of their light heavyweight contest.

But the occasion seemed to get too much for the promising Sarnian in front of a crowd of more than 400 at Lydney Town Hall in Gloucestershire, as the second round saw him clam up and that led to the referee stopping the fight.

It was a sad end for Pearson who was hopeful of making the final at the famous York Hall in Bethnal Green. He reached the semi-finals last year.

‘He wasn’t in top form,’ said his coach, Graham Guilbert.

‘He took the first round 4-3 but then he wasn’t himself in the second round. Pollock had a few combinations and Callum didn’t throw any back and he covered up in the corner.

‘He took a couple of shots around the ribs and the nerves set in. I think the nerves got the better of him and I think he would have beaten him if he was in top form.’