Promoter Frank Warren expects James DeGale to fight on after he lost the IBF world super-middleweight title to Caleb Truax on Saturday.
The English boxer was out-of-sorts in a fourth title defence and paid for it as unheralded American Truax got his tactics spot on to win by scores of 116-112, 115-112 and 114-114 at the Copper Box Arena in east London.
DeGale (23-2-1, 14 KOs) had been ranked ESPN's leading super-middleweight but his second career defeat has left doubts over whether he can be such a force again in the division.
But Warren believes DeGale can recover after such a disappointing display against 34-year-old Truax, from Osseo, Minnesota.
"I don't think he will retire, he's just had a bad day at the office," Warren told a news conference. "He's got to get back in there again.
"Caleb took his opportunity. Going on the ropes always makes the other guy look better and Caleb was busier and that caught the judges' eye.
"If James had gone to the centre of the ring on the front foot, it would have been a different story.
"But I don't know if there's a rematch clause, I didn't make the fight.
"I was going to try to make the fight with [WBO world middleweight champion] Billy Joe Saunders at a catchweight, if they both came through."
DeGale's team are investigating what led to such a dismal display by the 2008 Olympic gold medallist who was hoping for a world title unification fight early in 2018.
Was it too soon for him to fight after surgery in June on his right shoulder for a torn rotator cuff?
Or did the brutal points draw with Badou Jack in January taken too much out of Londoner DeGale?
What ever the reason, DeGale was laboured, lacked any spite and hardly used his right hand against Truax.
"For me it's a big upset but you have to take into consideration his shoulder, but it held up for 12 rounds, he's had a good break and had good time to recuperate," said Warren.
"I don't think he came back too soon, I just think he got his tactics wrong. He's a natural counter puncher and when he was on the ropes he just wasn't letting his shots go."
But DeGale, 31, felt he may have returned too soon after surgery and had only been punching for two months.
"I've got to go back to drawing board and sort out certain things and change things," DeGale said in the ring before going to hospital for a check up on a suspected broken nose sustained early in the fight.
"I probably rushed back to be honest... maybe I should have waited. There's no pain, but it's not flowing. I want the rematch."
DeGale was in trouble in parts of the fight, most notably the fifth round, and Truax had done his research on DeGale, who lost for the first time since being out-pointed by London rival George Groves -- now WBA titleholder -- in 2011.
"We watched the Badou Jack tape and we noticed he didn't like pressure that much," said Truax.
"He's a hell of a classy boxer. I couldn't let him start off on the front foot. I had to keep backing him up, he's a better boxer than me so I couldn't box him.
"I had to turn it into a dog fight -- and that's what I did.
"He never hurt me. I kept walking him down, walking through his shot, getting shots on target and making him work.
"All week all I heard was who he's going to fight next. Well, guess what, those fights are mine now."
"What ever challenge is next I'm up for it."
That may mean a rematch for Truax, who only took up professional boxing to pay off his student loans.
DeGale had been a massive 1/100 favourite against 16-1 shot Truax with local bookmakers and the challenger arrived with a record of failing when ever he faced elite opposition, such as when he was knocked out in a round by Anthony Dirrell in April 2016.
But Truax seized on DeGale's pedestrian performance and can expect to get handsomely paid for his next fight, who ever it is against.