Tommy Langford: I'll bounce back from naive error

The British middleweight champion from Birmingham, known as the 'Baggies bomber' because he follows Albion, was floored by a fierce left hook from the Georgian in the fifth round of his WBO middleweight interim title fight at the Leicester Arena.

It was the first defeat of his career.

"I took the fight and fought the geezer nobody wanted to fight," said Langford. "It's my first time at world level, and I showed a bit of naivety in there to be honest. I felt I wasn't out of my depth in terms of boxing ability but I made a naive mistake coming out with my hands down. I got caught.

"Make mistakes at British level, you get away with it. You can't expect to make mistakes at world level and get away with it. I've come out with my hands down and I got beat with a left hook. I'm devastated because I had the ability to beat him and had I not got caught with that one shot it might have been different because he was flagging."

Langford was eyeing up a World championship fight with long-term friend Billy Joe Saunders, but defeat to the 37-year-old Georgian has forced him to regroup.

"I'm gutted because a domestic clash with Billy Joe Saunders would have been a great fight," added Langford. "But in all honesty, Bill's mean at that level and he won't make the mistake I made, he'll beat Khurtsidze.

"He was nothing special, he was just wild. I got caught with a wild punch and I shouldn't have.

"I'll be back better and stronger and we'll move on to the next one. There will probably be tougher opportunities that come my way and I'll take them, because that's the man I am.

"I want to be at the top and fighting the best. I'm still British champion, we'll see what comes up next. I'll meet (promoter) Frank (Warren) in a week or two and we'll go from there."