A BARRHEAD boxer who is said to be ‘the hardest hitting bantamweight in Scotland’ has spoken of his regret over a shameful assault on a 22-year-old woman.

Gary Rae last month admitted assaulting Yasmin Temple in the town’s Cross Arthurlie Street.

Paisley Sheriff Court heard how Rae, a member of Barrhead Amateur Boxing Club, hit Ms Temple “with an open hand” in the head on October 4 last year.

Although Rae was at pains to play down his involvement in the incident, his victim feels he should have been given a harsher punishment.

She said: “How can he be allowed to keep fighting after doing something like this?”

Meanwhile, the boxing club and Boxing Scotland are standing by Rae, who described the shameful episode as “regrettable”.

The 27-year-old said: “There was no punch. I’m simply not that type of person.

“I simply wanted to get her away from me after she said something really vile about my unborn nephew. I did push her on the head – that did happen – and it was a regrettable incident. To be honest, I never thought it would get this far.

“I had an emotional reaction to what she said and I should never have acted in the way I did. I feel I should be able to defend myself in this case.

“Any suggestion that I was drunk is also simply not true. I had been boxing that night and was driving home with my coach before I went to the pub and I was not drinking in there either.”

Rae pled guilty to assaulting Ms Temple, but allegations that he assaulted her mother and sister were dropped when he appeared in the dock on Tuesday, April 26.

The original charges included an allegation that Rae assaulted Carla Baird by punching her in the head.

It was also claimed that he assaulted Karen Baird by punching her in the head and causing her to fall to the ground.

The charges relating to Carla and Karen were dropped, but Rae admitted to a reduced charge of assaulting Yasmin who insists her assailant got off lightly after a sheriff slapped him with a fine.

Speaking after the case, she said: “I couldn’t believe it when we found out that he was a boxer. His hands are weapons and the fact that he was able to go out and behave like this is disgusting.

“He is a trained fighter and if he had wanted to he could have done some real damage to me. We believe that he should not be allowed to fight again and we are attempting to take this up with the proper authorities to have his professional boxing licence revoked. We had no idea he was a boxer until we seen him in the newspaper.”

Rae is a two-time West of Scotland champion and won the Western District Championship for the third time last year.

However, he recently broke his hand while preparing for the elite Scottish title while sparring in training.

He was scheduled to have his last amateur fight last month before turning to the professional ranks.

His coach Mark Breslin, of Barrhead Amateur Boxing Club, previously described Rae as having “unnatural strength” and “hard hitting” power.

However, Breslin has defended the club’s decision to stand by their man.

He said: “This club would not and does not train thugs. We would not train anyone who we thought might use what they are taught outside of the sport.

“The club and the sport’s governing bodies are fully behind him. The fact of the story is this – Gary is the hardest hitting bantamweight in Scotland. If he had punched anyone, there would have been serious injury involved and I would not be defending his conduct. He holds his hands up to what he did do.”

Sheriff John McCartney fined Rae £540.