George Kambosos reacts to ‘robbery’ claims after controversial win over Maxi Hughes

The Australian took Hughes’ IBO lightweight title with a heavily-disputed decision in Oklahoma

Alex Pattle
Combat Sports Correspondent
Monday 24 July 2023 04:48 EDT
Comments
MMA fighter Tom Aspinall sings 'Sweet Caroline' at UFC London

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

George Kambosos Jr has insisted that his win over Maxi Hughes was not a ‘robbery’, claiming that he won ‘seven-eight’ rounds on Saturday.

Kambosos, 30, took Hughes’ IBO lightweight title with a heavily-disputed, majority decision in Oklahoma, leading many viewers, journalists and boxers to criticise the judging.

Kambosos has since hit back, however, taking to social media to share his thoughts on the result, which saw him bounce back from two straight losses to Devin Haney – the only defeats of the Australian’s professional career.

“A close fight is not a robbery!!!” Kambosos wrote alongside a laughing emoji and a facepalm emoji. “Listen, it was a close, gritty victory against a top-10 lightweight and IBO world champion in my return fight. Went straight into a tough fight instead of taking a stiff!

“Do yourself a favour and mute that biased commentary & rewatch the fight! And then tell me exactly what you think, as many people have gone back, done that and seen the decision was fair and correct.

“Yes, I think 117-111 was [too] far off for a scorecard but I don’t control the judges’ view and the [effective] aggression they are seeing, but an 8-4 [or] 7-5 decision our way was right.”

Judge Josef Mason scored the fight 117-111 in Kambosos’s favour, while Gerald Ritter had it 115-113, and David Sutherland scored the bout 114-114.

Hughes, 33, thus suffered his first loss in four years.

“It was a bit of a kick in the b*****ks,” the Briton said after the fight. “I feel pretty silly standing here in my cowboy hat. I won that fight. I won it clearly.”

Click here to subscribe to The Independent’s Sport YouTube channel for all the latest sports videos.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in