Kambosos Secures A ‘Controversial’ Majority Decision Over Hughes
George Kambosos Jr. beat Maxi Hughes in a controversial majority-decision win: 117-111, 115-113 and 114-114.
The former unified lightweight champion’s victory may have put him in line to fight for the title, but the win in truth, raised questions over Kambosos’ form.
Hughes began well, landing his left hand to the body as the southpaw stance made Kambosos pay early on.
Hughes’ left was at it again before Kambosos responded with a right hand in the second. The challenger’s left was working a treat in the third with a solid shot to the body.
Maxi Hughes lands a big body shot in R3 👀 pic.twitter.com/fUW4intTFR
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) July 23, 2023
Therafter, Kambosos’ right eye suffered a cut above as the blood poured in a dominant fifth round for the Brit.
A HUGE Round 5 for Maxi Hughes 😬#KambososHughes | LIVE on @ESPN pic.twitter.com/710zViDrpc
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) July 23, 2023
But in the second part of the fight, Kambosos responded well. He landed a left hand, which sent Hughes scrambling towards the ropes in a good seventh round.
Although that may have been the case, Hughes’ smart boxing kept him out of trouble.
Kambosos began to get frustrated and was warned in the tenth round for his using his front arm during the clinches.
And as the fight entered the final rounds, Hughes had to get a stoppage. Kambosos held on, but Josef Mason’s scorecard of 117-111 led to a chorus of boos.
Reaction
“We won the fight, we won the fight by many rounds, but that’s no discredit to Maxi Hughes. He had a couple good rounds, but a couple good rounds doesn’t win you a fight.
“We won the majority of rounds, and look, that’s the reason we chose him, it was a hard test. We wanted to take a test like him, a champion, a guy who’s been on a big win streak.
“He’s rated all over the sanctioning bodies. This was a hard challenge, and big credit to Maxi Hughes. I got through this fight. I believe the majority of the rounds, I won. I move to the next step,” Kambosos
“They know, they know. I’m absolutely devastated. Nobody knew who I was. I wasn’t supposed to be in George’s league. Tonight, I came and I showed that I should have had my hand raised.
“I don’t want to take George’s moment but I’m gutted here,” Hughes
“I thought it was a robbery. I thought Maxi boxed well, and I thought he was the better fighter. “I think that the judges should be held to a higher criteria. I think that they should be focused on the boxers, and I think they should do a lot more to become a judge. I feel like they’re not watching the fights and paying too much attention to the fights. I think it’s messing up boxing,” Shakur Stevenson
Full Card
George Kambosos Jr. beat Maxi Hughes via a majority decision: 114-114, 115-113, 117-111
Keyshawn Davis beat Francesco Patera via a unanimous-decision: 99-90, 100-89, 100-89
Giovani Santillan beat Erick Bone via a unanimous decision: 97-93, 97-92, 98-92
Jeremiah Milton beat Willie Harvey via a fourth-round TKO
Troy Isley beat Antonio Todd via a unanimous decision: 79-73, 79-73, 79-73
Hemi Ahio beat Amron Sands via a sixth-round TKO
Joe Goodall beat Stephan Shaw via a sixth-round TKO