WILLIAM Gare, South Africa’s current national junior middleweight champion, lost his WBC International title on Saturday night in Italy while challenging for the WBU middleweight world title. Although he dropped Antonio Perugino in the second round, he was unable to capitalise on the kncockdown and lost on points. “Perugino is a very good boxer,” said Mike Segal, Gare’s promoter “He’s not a big puncher, but he just out-boxed Gare.” Gare lost the bout: 116-111; 117-110 and 117-109. Gare was a late replacement for Johnson Tshuma, who was scheduled to challenge Perugino for the title, but was forced to withdraw after failing a medical test a week before. “Gare was in very good condition,” said Segal “He had in fact been sparring and training with Tshuma. Perugino was just too good for him.” All is not lost however, as Segal feels confident that another world title bout could be in the offing for Gare. “We’ll know within the next few weeks” said Segal “This time we’ll challenge for a junior middleweight title.” Perugino remains undefeated with 15 wins and Gare’s record falls to 14 wins with 5 losses.