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For the third time in the Wray and Nephew Contender series, Richard "Frog" Holmes reached the finals, and for the third time he lost, this time to Team Canada's Ricardo "Magic Man" Salas, but his performance was one of the best in his boxing career, and he was rewarded with loud cheers by a large and appreciative crowd, that admired his tenacity throughout 10 scintillating rounds of boxing, at the National Indoor Sports Centre last Wednesday night.

The Jamaican warrior lost by unanimous decision, as judges Laurence Neufville 96-93 and Clifford Brown 95-93 from Jamaica and David Dunbar 96-92, from Canada, all voted for Salas, but it was 10 rounds of non-stop action, that had the crowd cheering wildly all night.

Holmes, in defeat earned the respect of the Jamaican crowd, many of whom had predicted that Salas would have been able to keep his promise of knocking out him out as he had done with his three previous opponents in the series.

Yesterday, Holmes, whose record is now 19-9, told STAR Sports that although he lost, he was proud of his performance, especially as he fought with a hand injury.

"I injured my hand in the first round. I threw a hard uppercut, and as it landed, I felt something happen. It hurt the whole night and is now badly swollen. Every time that I threw the right, it hurt, but I had to fight through the pain. I caught him really good a few times, and if I could have put all my power into those punches, I would have stopped him" he added.

He also pointed to the fact that since this was the third time that he had made it to the finals, that he really wanted to win.

"I really wanted it this year. I wanted to be called Contender champion, and my real disappointment is that it did not happen. I am going to move on, however, and hopefully I will get a few more fights before the end of this year."

Salas 11-1, was a worthy winner and said after the fight, that although he was pleased with his performance, he wanted to win by knockout.

"I tried to knock him out but he is tough. He caught me with some good shots, but eventually I won, and that is what counts."

There was no doubt that Salas wanted an early knockout, as he came out with blazing fists. Holmes had said beforehand, that he would try to keep the fight at long range, but with Salas boring in and throwing hard hooks at his body and head, Holmes had no alternate but to retaliate. It was a good first test for both fighters and Holmes prevailed, as took the round.

Salas kept on the attack in the second, and it paid dividends as he put Holmes down. Holmes took the mandatory eight count and then came back fighting, making it clear that he would not be a pushover.

There was a constant ebb and flow throughout the night and the crowd loved it. They got behind Holmes several times with chants of "Frog, Frog, Frog", and this gave Holmes the lift that he needed. He gave his all. A testament to his tenacity was that after being knocked down again in round nine, he came back brilliantly, to win the final round.

In other bouts, Sakima Mulllings stopped Alejandro Hernandez who retired after the first round and Nico Yeyo outpointed Ricardo Planter.