A RARE mistake from the ring announcer during Cherneka Johnson and Nina Hughes’ fight last night resulted in the wrong winner being announced.
Johnson, 29, and Hughes, 41, battled it out for the WBA bantamweight world title in what was a tightly contested fight.
And with neither fighter able to get a knockout within the ten rounds, the bout went to a points decision from the judges’ scorecards.
That’s when chaos ensued as ring announcer Lt Dan Hennessey grabbed the mic to reveal who had won the fight and would be crowned as the WBA world champion.
Hennessey revealed that the ringside judges has scored the fight 95-95, 98-92 and 96-94 in favour of the defending champion Hughes.
The announcement was met by cheers from the crowd and celebrations from the Essex-born fighter who had her hand lifted in the air by the referee.
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But things quickly flipped on their head as Hennessey, without any kind of apology or explanation, began reading out the scores once again after confusion from the officials.
This time he announced that the scores were in favour of Johnson and crowned her as the new WBA champ instead.
The New Zealand fighter began her somewhat more subdued celebrations after the awkward moment, while Hughes was left both deflated and irritated with the monumental mess up.
After the fight, Hughes slammed the decision as a “joke” and proposed a rematch as a result.
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She said: “I just don’t get it. How can they announce I had won and then change the scores?
“I thought I dominated early. I thought she won a few of the later rounds but I felt like I won it comfortably.
“I don’t get how you can announce the winner and then change the scores.
“It’s a joke. I feel like I’ve been robbed big time. There’s got to be a rematch. I didn’t lose that fight.”
While Johnson was confident that she had got the better of her opponent over the 10 rounds and breathed a sigh of relief at the correct decision found its way to light.
She said: “I’m not the judge and I’m just glad that they figured out the wrong decision.
“Nina was a tough fight but I definitely think I won.”
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
