IN front of 16,000 boxing fans Southampton heavyweight Colin Kenna suffered his second defeat on the bounce, this time to Ukranian Oleg Petrov.

But Kenna was given a rousing reception by the German crowd in Mannheim who witnessed him go five of the allotted eight rounds as the immediate warm up to Vladimir Klitschko's defeat of American Chris Byrd for the IBF world heavyweight title.

Despite suffering a bad cut above his right eye in the second round Kenna managed to last three more against his tough young opponent before the referee stepped in to stop the fight.

Kenna has laid low since Saturday night's defeat, but his trainer Jack Bishop was putting a brave face on things yesterday.

"It was disappointing," admitted Bishop. "But a lesser man than Colin would have gone down a lot earlier.

"Lets not forget this lad is ranked 12 in Europe. He's a very dangerous man. But there was 16,000 people there and when Colin got out of the ring they applauded him back to the dressing room."

Weighing in at 16st 3lbs, only marginally heavier than Belgium based Petrov (16st 1lb), Kenna was forced to withstand a barrage of early blows.

"He (Petrov) came at him like a ton of bricks," said Bishop. "When he went out for the second he sustained a cut above his right eye. It was bleeding profusely but it wasn't a big cut. I've never seen a small cut bleed so much."

After enduring an eight-count, Kenna, 29, the former Southern Area champion, lasted three more rounds before the referee stepped in.

But Bishop said he felt the referee had been a bit quick to step in.

Meanwhile Bishop said he will consult with Kenna before deciding where to go from here.

He added: "Colin was proud of the effort he put in and he's still the number one contender for Mickey Steeds' Southern Area title."