In boxing, if there is a biased outcome of a match because of where a fight is being fought or the environment of a fight, aficionados of the sport call it 'home cooking.'

When Penn State fighter Ian McGroarty went to fight in England, he got a heaping plateful of just that.

The junior fighter, who fought an English fighter in New Jersey in September, had expected to go back and fight the same boxer in a fight that had been scheduled as a rematch of the earlier bout; a nail-biter that McGroarty lost.

When he arrived across The Pond, McGroarty found out that he would not be fighting the same fighter, but another opponent, one he had not prepared to fight. The result was another defeat.

The surprises did not stop there as another bombshell was dropped on McGroarty as he was entering the ring. It was not until then that he found out that he was going to be fighting a four-round fight, instead of the normal three-rounder to which he was accustomed.

The confusion even carried over into the fight.

"I was actually arguing with my trainer between rounds about the length of the fight," McGroarty said.

The event was supposed to pit 10 American fighters against 10 British fighters, but only six American fighters could make the trip. To make the sides fair, the English fighters sent three fighters to fight on the American team, but the three barely pulled their own weight -- all three got knocked out.

The final blow for McGroarty came when it was discovered that the fight itself was sponsored by one of the parents of an English fighter, and one of the boxers' girlfriends was a judge for the bouts.

"She was clapping and cheering during her boyfriend's fight," he said.

McGroarty, however, left the whining to someone else: "I didn't fight a good fight. I deserved to lose. I don't like to complain."

Fighting in England was a good learning opportunity for McGroarty, as he experienced a new fighting style.

"In America, the fighters train to be more flashy. There is a lot more dodging and slipping punches. Over in England, the fighting is more lateral. It is more back-and-forth," he said. "We also had to fight with different gloves and different wraps than we are used to using. It was a good learning experience."

Early in the fight, McGroarty slipped his opponent a lot of jabs, a strategy that resulted in a clean victory in the first round. The second and third rounds were closely scored, and by the final round McGroarty was beginning to feel the fatigue.

"I was getting desperate and throwing a lot of hooks," he said.

Throughout the fight, he also tried to work the body, which has been stressed by first-year Penn State coach Ed Davis.

Most collegiate teams are what McGroarty calls "head hunters," which made the more controlled fighting style a good change of pace.

McGroarty was greeted with another unfamiliarity, as he was fighting a fighter with a similar body type to his for the first time. McGroarty, who stands taller than 6-feet and fights at 147 pounds, is a wiry anomaly in the boxing world.

"I was 147 pounds when I came out of the womb," the barrel-chested Davis said.

When in England, however, McGroarty had the unique experience of exchanging blows with another long boxer.

"It is important to mix it up and fight fighters who are different sizes, because each fighter brings something different to the table. Usually, I have an advantage with my reach and my jabs, and the fighters have to get inside to do well against me. Here, it was different."

But despite the outcome, the loss won't be a major set back.

"This is not a sport where we are real 'rah rah' about our losses," Davis said. "It's just like forget about it and move on to the next one."