Australian boxing great Jeff Fenech says Daniel Geale was robbed in IBF middleweight title fight against Darren Barker

AUSTRALIAN boxing great Jeff Fenech says the judges who stripped IBF middleweight champ Daniel Geale of his world title should be suspended.

AUSTRALIAN boxing great Jeff Fenech says the judges who stripped IBF middleweight champ Daniel Geale of his world title should be suspended, labelling the decision: "Crazy and disturbing’".

No stranger to being robbed in big fights, Fenech could not believe the decision by judges Barbara Perez and Carlos Ortiz to award the highly entertaining bout to English challenger Darren Barker.

The Aussie legend questions how Ortiz, who eventually decided the split decision with his 114-113 card for Barker, could score all of the final four rounds for the challenger - particularly the 12th which US commentators said Geale dominated.

Ortiz's card gave the result to Barker, who was dropped in the sixth from a brutal body shot, by a single point.

"Daniel Geale won that last round,'' Fenech told The Daily Telegraph. "To say he didn't, I find that both crazy and disturbing.

"It's hard for me to comment because the last thing I want to do is bag the sport of boxing. But I know if I was in Daniel's corner I'd still be jumping up and down over there in Atlantic City because there is no way he lost that last round or that fight.

"Maybe being Australian hurt him. I remember from as far back as my own amateur days, no one cared what happened to the Aussie fighters. So maybe the judges didn't respect him enough as a world champion, I dunno?

"And don't get me wrong, it was a close fight. But exactly how someone can watch the same fight I did and come up with that decision bewilders me."

While judge Alan Rubenstein scored the fight 114-113 for Geale, third official Perez also went for the challenger by a staggering margin of 116-111.

On the official scorecards, tweeted afterwards by Australian journalist Ben Damon, who was working ringside for Main Event, Perez gave the last round to Geale. Rubenstein, surprisingly, also went for Barker.

"That’s two of three judges gave the last round to Barker, I find it staggering,'' Fenech said. "Worse, the other judge had him winning by five points. How does that happen?

"Barker was tough, was busy, but did he do enough to take the title from a champion? No. And yet somewhere in America over the next fortnight there will be another fight and those same three judges will be working again. That's sad.

"Rather than being held accountable they'll be working somewhere else."

Three times in round 12 the US commentators made reference to strong scoring punches by Geale. During one particular flurry midway through the round, Barker appeared to be slightly rocked by the champ, who then backed up with a strong right hand with about 30 seconds to go.