Galal Yafai's promoter Eddie Hearn believes the 32-year-old should have been pulled out by his corner towards the end of his bruising 12-round defeat to Francisco Rodriguez Jr on Saturday night.

Yafai (9-1, 7 KOs) lost to Mexican Rodriguez Jr (40-6-2, 27 KOs) by unanimous decision, with the scores reading 119-108, 119-108, 118-109, at Birmingham's BP Pulse Live Arena last night, and he was left bloodied and beaten, suffering final round knockdown for his troubles, too.

The hometown fighter, who won Olympic gold at Tokyo 2020, was badly hurt in the 1st round and never really recovered. As a result, his plans to fight for world titles against WBC and WBA flyweight champion Kenshiro Teraji later this year in Japan have been scrubbed.

But the concern for Yafai's wellbeing will be greater than that of his career aspirations. Hearn, who signed Yafai in 2022, doesn't feel his fighter should've been in the ring any longer once the final three rounds of the contest came. Trainer Rob McCracken elected to have his man fight on, despite several occasions where it looked like the fight could've been stopped.

Hearn told The Ring: "I felt the last three rounds were a bit hard to watch really, I'm not sure that he should have necessarily been in there, to be honest, because you can't really win at that stage.

"The power had gone and he was just taking a beating, but Rodriguez, I thought, was sensational. I mean, I think after six rounds, well over a thousand punches thrown from both guys.

"Just 30 seconds in, got buzzed bad, and even probably nicked one or two rounds in the first five, but then after that it was just all completely one way."

The result brings about another case of Mexican fighters coming to UK shores and beating a favoured home fighter. Josh Warrington and Robbie Davies Jr, in recent years, suffered shock defeats to Mauricio Lara and Gabriel Gollaz Valenzuela.

In two weeks, Joe Cordina makes his return to action at lightweight against Mexican Jaret Gonzalez.

"We've got Joe Cordina's fight against the Mexican in two weeks, I might have to change the opponent," Hearn joked.

The Matchroom chief also admits it may be time for a period of reflection for Yafai. The beating he took was a career-shortener, and at the age of 32 with no clear way back to world level, questions will be asked of his desire to continue fighting after just 10 pro fights.

"At the end of the day you've got to show that you're ready for that level," Hearn continued. "For some reason, I thought he boxed very poorly tonight for him, for his ability, but also you've got to give credit to Rodriguez, it was just relentless.

"I think it's one of them where ... obviously you've lost one level short of where you want to be, so you've got to come back, or ... it's very difficult to walk away. I mean, he's 32, but he's only had ten fights, and he's moved very quickly,

"It's easy when you're winning fights easily and going through the levels and you look ready for those guys, but then sometimes it's a step too far, but we think he's a fighter that should be fighting at that level, so I think it's a time for reflection."