HOPES of major title glory for Irvine boxer Ryan Collins were shattered on Saturday.

His much anticipated clash with Charlie Flynn came to a controversial end.

The Celtic Lightweight title fight at the SSE Hydro was stopped less than two minutes into the third round of a 10-round contest after an accidental clash of heads and it ended in a technical draw.

And minutes after the fight Collins took to Facebook to hit out at Commonwealth Games gold medallist Flynn, who suffered a cut in the incident and accused him of head butting.

Collins said: "I saw Charlie Flynn saying it was an illegal headbutt. He's a nice lad but a pure boomerang. I was first to put my hand up and tell the referee it was a clash of heads. None the less I wish the lad a speedy recovery, it was a nasty cut and wish him the best."

Collins made a hugely impressive start and looked to have edged the first round in my estimation, with the second round more even and Flynn coming back more strongly. The third round saw the Irvine boxer coming back again until a halt was called to proceedings.

Trainer Alec Mullen firmly believes the fight should not have been stopped and said: "Ryan was getting more confident as the fight was going on. He started the head movement at the start of the third round was hooking off the jab. He was going to get better and win the fight.

"I was happy with the game plan, Ryan showed his new style of boxing and it worked well instead of coming forward to please the fans.

"Charlie's cut wasn't as bad as Ryan's cut in his last fight. I don't think it was a fair decision and the fight shouldn't have stopped. It should have gone on with the best man winning."