Boxing legends react to George Kambosos’ controversial win

Some of the biggest names in boxing have hit out at George Kambosos’ win over Maxi Hughes, with Jeff Fenech calling for one judge to never be allowed near a boxing ring again.

Former world champion Tim Bradley has called for a fighter union, while Australian boxing legends Jeff Fenech, Skinny Hussein and Stevie Spark have hit out in disgust after George Kambosos Jr’s controversial majority decision win over Maxi Hughes in Oklahoma.

Kambosos won the fight 117-111, 115-113 and 114-114, to claim the IBO lightweight world title and secure an IBF world title shot.

The 117-111 scorecard handed in by ringside judge Josef Mason has been heavily criticised with many pundits calling it a robbery.

Hughes won the lion’s share of the opening rounds, cutting Kambosos badly over his right eye. Only the work of veteran cut man Jacob ‘Stitch’ Duran kept the fight continuing. Hughes bled from his own cut, but replays showed it was due to a heavy head clash.

Englishman Hughes labelled the decision a “kick in the bollocks,” but some of the harshest criticism came from within Australia.

“Look, it was a close fight, but that judge who scored 117-111 should never be allowed near a boxing ring again,” Fenech told this masthead. “He wasn’t watching the fight. He was at the zoo.”

Kambosos won a controversial decision against Maxi Hughes. (Photo by Mikey Williams/Top Rank Inc via Getty Images)

Fenech was on the wrong side of the worst travesty in Australian boxing history when his first fight with Azumah Nelson was controversially ruled a draw. That decision was finally overturned last year, and Fenech would have loved to see a close decision go to the Aussie fighter.

“I’d love if it, if it was a tough fight, for the Aussie to get the nod. Of course it’s time we got one. But it wasn’t. It just wasn’t,” he said. “Look, I say it like it is, and people can say what they like about me, but that’s a bad look for boxing.

“It’s a dark day for our sport. That’s why MMA and the UFC are taking over.”

Hussein and Spark have both been on the wrong side of heinous boxing decisions over the years as well, and know the pain Hughes will be feeling.

In 2000, Hussein – then an undefeated 22-year-old rising star – dropped future legend Manny Pacquiao. Hard.

Replays show that a beautiful Hussein jab floored Pacquiao, with the Filipino fighter looking gone for all money. Filipino referee Carlos Padilla gave Pacquiao a full 18 seconds – instead of the mandatory 10 – to recover and regain his feet. It’s all Pacquiao needed, with Manny going on to win via TKO due to a cut over Hussein’s eye. Two decades later, Padilla admitted his complicity in the result.

“I am Filipino, and everybody watching the fight is Filipino,” Padilla said in an interview last year. “So I prolonged the count. I know how to do it.”

Hussein labelled boxing as a joke.

Hussein has been left to wonder what might have been ever since.

“Boxing is so corrupt that it is becoming a joke,” Hussein wrote on Instagram after watching the Kambosos-Hughes fight. “Plans for the A side are put together before the fight has even started.

“People, I was hoping our countryman wins the fight. Maxi did a tremendous job closing George down.

“George will move on to fight for millions while Maxi will go back to the UK to fight for thousands.

“That’s why MMA is taking over the sport we love.”

Queenslander Spark was robbed in a split decision defeat against Gabriel Valenzuela on a Canelo Alvarez undercard in May this year.

The Toowoomba slugger, who rose to domestic fame by replacing Michael Zerafa against Tim Tszyu in 2021, was succinct in his assessment of the Kambosos-Hughes scoring.

“I’m fed up with these f****** judges ruining people’s lives,” he wrote.

American former two-weight world champion Tim Bradley – who has been on the winning side of some questionable scoring – also hit out. Bradley was awarded a widely panned split decision win over Pacquiao in 2012. Pacquiao went on to beat Bradley twice in two later fights.

Timothy Bradley Jr hit out at the decision on the broadcast.

Bradley was irate speaking on the broadcast minutes after the Kambosos-Hughes result was announced.

“Fighters need a union or something,” he said. “We need something to protect us.

“Because this can’t continue to happen. It’s wrong. Judges need to be sought out. Something needs to happen.

“Trust me, we go through too much to get to these decisions. And then it gets taken away like that, stolen from a fighter like that.

“It’s unbelievable to me. I’m sick to my stomach.

“These judges need to be accountable for this. Something needs to happen. They need to get suspended, they need to get fined. We Ned to find out why did he judge the fight that way?”

Originally published as Boxing legends react to George Kambosos’ controversial win