By Roy Pilott

From the comfort of his couch back in Taranaki, Sam Rapira reflected on his first loss as a professional boxer yesterday and promised to be back.

Rapira was decked three times by his one time amateur nemesis Reece Papuni in the professional undercard to Joseph Parker's points win over Sherman Williams in Auckland on Thursday.

He had no complaints about the pay-per-view fight being stopped after taking a barrage of shots and hitting the canvas twice in the fourth.

Rapira, who had previously won all eight of his fights as a pro, surrendered his New Zealand National Boxing Federation lightweight title to Papuni, 27, who has also taken his place on a boxing escalator which has the talented Aucklander Robbie Berridge on the next floor.

"I'm bummed," Rapira, who had still to watch the video of the fight, said early yesterday afternoon. "That's the game. I know what I've done wrong. All I can do is learn. It's an unforgiving sport.

"I am going to recharge and reassess. I'm still in the sport and want to carry on and achieve my goals. But I am going to have sit down with my manager and trainer and talk about the right way back."

It was the first time Rapira, 30, had been stopped, and though he appeared to recover after bring dropped in the third round, he conceded yesterday he had not.

"I was taking too many shots."

Papuni paid tribute to Rapira after the fight.

"Any animosity was just hype," Rapira said. "We have a lot of respect for each other."

Rapira's head was clear yesterday but his knee was sore, courtesy of his awkward fall in the third round.

He said he was looking forward to spending some time with is family and would enjoy a break.