Daniel Dubois was 88-83 up at the time his see-saw battle with Joe Joyce ended, according to a British judge who sat mere feet away from the fight at ringside.
Despite the massive majority of fans and media seeing the three-belt clash close through ten rounds, one of the three officials gave Joyce just two rounds of the nine.
Joyce had seemingly used his jab to great effect. Causing damage round after round to Dubois’ eye in perfect tactics.
But Scoring it 88-83 in favor of Dubois, the culprit has been named in the public domain as respected official John Lathom, who should now be questioned.
The two other appointed British Boxing Board of Control judges on the night were Victor Loughlin and Mark Lyson.
They had it 87-84 to Joyce and 86-85 Dubois as the latter took a knee.
The turn of events is yet another black eye for the UK officiating.
Promoter Eddie Hearn couldn’t resist a dig at his old promotional rival over the matter.
“Just the eight rounds up,” quipped Hearn with a see-no-evil monkey emoji for good measure.
After the fight, the consensus from the UK side of the sport was that, sadly, Dubois had quit. That included BT Sport pundit Carl Frampton.
The man himself offered no excuses.
“He caught me with a good jab. I couldn’t see out of the eye. It just happens,” Dubois told BT Sport.
“I couldn’t see out of it. I was trying my best. I’ve been hit harder, but it was where I was positioned, and he hit me on the eye.
“I was thinking of how to break him down. Joe rode his punches well. I was maybe a bit trigger happy. It is what it is, Joe won.”
Joyce vs. Dubois
The victor declared himself ready to take on Oleksandr Usyk for the WBO championship if Anthony Joshua vacates in 2021.
“I’ve taken some big shots before. Daniel has got some power. But I’ve felt power like that before. With my experience, I’ve learned to ride them,” pointed out Joe Joyce.
“I felt his power, but I was happy to take. But also not to take it.
“I started looking at the eye, and it was starting to swell up. I was trying not to get too close but also not get backed up on the ropes.
“I’m ready for Usyk,” he added.
Follow us on Facebook @officialworldboxingnews and Twitter @worldboxingnews.
