BARRHEAD boxer Gary Rae hailed his win over Jose Aguilar on Saturday night as the best performance of his professional career.

The 28-year-old moved to 4-0 as a a professional with a comprehensive points defeat of Aguilar at the Lagoon Centre in Paisley, Rae won every one of the six rounds.

Aguilar represented a step up for Rae in his first six-round bout, the Nicaraguan has been in the ring with British Olympian Joe Cordina and Charlie Edwards, who last year fought for a world title.

And Rae duly raised his game for the occasion, but he revealed he had to keep his head amongst some mind games from his experienced opponent.

He said: “He was a bit of a character, I knew I was hurting him, but he was hanging his chin out and shouting at me a lot in Spanish. I didn’t fall into any of those traps and kept my head.

“That’s the best I’ve boxed I think as a professional. Everything came together brilliantly these last few weeks, I felt really focused and determined to show people how well I can box.

“Mark (Breslin) was very impressed with my performance. I really feel I’ve learned so much in the past six weeks, I think this is the best camp I’ve had.

“I was able to totally boss the pace, when I wanted to step it up I did, when I decided I had won the round I was able to sit back and just pop shots at him to make sure I won the round comfortably.”

The super bantamweight was in bullish mood after his performance, but he’ll now have to wait until September to get back in the ring.

Rae is adamant that he’ll quickly be capable of stepping up to eight and 10 round fights and is confident of being in a position to take on some big opponents in 2018.

He added: “I’m always happy to step up every time, it’s just waiting to see what comes around. Jose has been in with some great fighters, it was a step up in terms of opponent and it was my first six rounder.

“Hopefully I’ll get another couple of six rounders next and this time next year I believe I’ll be ready for any fight.”