Promoter Eddie Hearn has called for judge Terry O’Connor to be immediately stood down by the British Boxing Board of Control after footage emerged of him appearing to look at his phone while judging the Lewis Ritson versus Miguel Vazquez junior welterweight fight at the East of England Arena in Peterborough in the UK on Saturday night.
Vazquez appeared to have the fight in the bag, boxing effectively off the backfoot while Ritson largely failed to cut off the ring.
The end result was a split decision victory for Ritson with O’Connor tabling a card of 117-111 for the hometown boxer. It was the widest card of the fight.
Matchroom Boxing boss Hearn, who promotes Ritson, admitted he didn’t think his boxer deserved the victory and commented on a photo of O’Connor that was widely circulated on social media.
“If that’s a phone (and I presume it is) then then BBBofC should immediately remove him,” Hearn said.
WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman added his two cents.
“This image is extremely troubling to any person involved in boxing,” he said.
Hearn wasn’t the only one who thought Mexican veteran Vazquez got the rough end of the stick.
“Lovely kid Ritson and good fighter no doubt,” former world title challenger Matthew Macklin posted on Twitter. “And I hope he goes onto achieve great things. But I am shocked by that decision!”
Judge Michael Alexander had the fight 115-113 for Ritson, while judge Marcus McDonnell had the bout 116-112 for Vazquez.
Ritson, 27, looked less than confident while awaiting the scores to be announced but composed himself to claim the victory after the fight.
“It was a very close fight, he was awkward and I had been a year out of the ring,” Ritson said.
“I thought he was just tapping with his shots when I was hitting him with the cleaner shots. You pick what you like. I went back to the corner and they were confident that I had won. I trust [trainer] Neil [Fannan’s] instincts and I think we won.
“[I was not surprised] how good he was, but how awkward he was. Neil was saying to not get frustrated with the jab, but the more the fight went on I got more frustrated because I just couldn’t hit him, tap, tap, tap, running away, running away.
“That’s just his style, but we got the win and it shows us where we are.”
Ritson was looking forward to a fight against former WBA 140-pound champion Regis Prograis but now admits he has more work to do before that fight can become a reality.
“It’s meant to be Prograis next, but I think we have a while before we get to them. That was a bit of an eye-opener,” he said.
“Whatever you think. I was landing the cleaner hits and he was tap, tap, tap, running away. It is what it is. We’ve come away with a win and I think deservedly so.”
