GLASGOW, Scotland -- While the old adage states that a draw often feels like defeat, not everything is made equally.

Nathaniel Collins' maiden headline show at the 5,200-strong Braehead Arena was set up for the home favourite to deliver another vicious knockout sequence as he did in May, for Queensberry to strap the rocket ship and send him towards world title honours.

Instead, the 29-year-old immediately regretted dismissing his inner voice and allowed Cristobal Lorente (20-0-3, 8 KOs) back into a contest he conceivably led 5-1 after six rounds.

After showing appreciation for a nice local turnout during his broadcast interview on DAZN, Collins (17-0-1, 8 KOs) wrestled with the benefit of hindsight when talking to Queensberry in the ring shortly afterwards.

"I'm gutted, just looked too hard for the knockout and shouldn't have, just needed to let my hands go," he said.

"In my head I thought what am I doing, but grew up on Timothy Bradley-Ruslan Provodnikov, Shawn Porter, rough-and-ready types, everyone will remember that fight tonight. We're in the entertainment business, if that puts bums on seats and we get back here, it's a win.

"I was too eager, back home in my first headliner, wanted a highlight reel knockout again and was waiting too long to land the big shot or perfect punch, it wasn't me - not a great performance."

Whether it was current beltholder Stephen Fulton, returning champion in recess Rey Vargas or interim titlist Bruce Carrington, Collins was adamant during the build-up that he wasn't looking at this contest as a European title matchup. It was a final world title eliminator, and soon enough he'd get a long-awaited shot at world honours. Perhaps that tripped him up.

Defending champion Lorente came into town unknown but with a decent, if unspectacular resume. He'd shown grit in all three title bouts, having risen from the canvas to edge past Italy's unbeaten Mauro Forte and win European honours in July 2024.

Two-time world title challenger Sandor Martin acted as the 29-year-old's translator and while some optimism was perhaps misinterpreted at Thursday's final press conference, Collins found out the hard way just how mentally tough the Barcelona man proved to be.

"He was better than I thought he would be, I'd seen him hurt before so thought I had that bit extra to get him out of there but never," Collins said at the end of his in-house interview.

All things considered, Lorente was satisfied with the judges' decision. It was his third appearance outside Spain in his last four bouts and you sensed an eagerness for a homecoming when speaking to his team afterwards. How did he feel after the first five rounds, after which this slow-burning encounter began intensifying?

"I started the fight slowly, trying to impose my style and after the sixth round, knew I needed to do more than the first-half, had to increase [the intensity] in the judges' eyes," he told The Ring.

The plan was always to start slowly and steadily build his way into proceedings, absorbing Collins' best punches before imposing his will as the man with various advantages - 3.5 inches in height and two more years' pro experience (29 rounds, five fights) among them.

After needing to recover from a frantic sixth round, perhaps the best frame of the evening, his head coach Rafael Marcin stressed a need to go "all-in to the final bell" and show he was more mentally strong than Collins.

Collins' pace noticeably slowed as a patient Lorente took over, winning rounds eight through 10 through output and suddenly the home hero's comfortable lead had disappeared.

It's never a good sign when fans ringside are more interested in trouble breaking out behind them than the spectacle unfolding ahead, but Lorente's methodical approach worked a treat as time wore on.

The partisan crowd noise gradually dwindled, no doubt aware of a momentum shift, but Collins needed energy or a second wind from somewhere having expended too much energy prior.

Naturally, both believe they would fare better in a rematch with adjustments to make.

"Of course, why not? Who is going to pay for it," came the reply from Team Lorente when asked whether they would run it back, confident that they deserved a draw 'at minimum' and the scorecards were evidence of that.

"For us, it's a just [fair] result. He gave the WBC's No. 1 contender serious problems and it's a good result. Ultimately, it's what this fight deserved - no-one should've lost," Martin added as we're now left with more pressing questions than answers.