Anthony Joshua undercard boxer wins after four-minute round because bell didn’t sound
There was controversy on the Anthony Joshua vs Oleksandr Usyk II undercard as one of the fights had a near four-minute long round.
Badou Jack clashed with Richard Rivera in the first serious fight of the night in Saudi Arabia. Jack was dominating in the closing stages of the eighth round, but it then continued beyond the three-minute mark.
There was confusion amongst the commentators and viewers as the bell didn’t come until 3 minutes and 58 seconds. During that time Rivera sustained more damage and just managed to avoid being knocked out.
READ MORE: Anthony Joshua’s bizarre rules and rituals before Oleksandr Usyk fight in Jeddah
He then went on to lose the fight on a 96-94, 94-96, 94-96 split-decision, even though many felt he’d done enough to win. The farce had boxing fans fuming online.
One tweeted: “How in god’s planet does a four minute round happen on the biggest stage in the world… that is outrageous tbh.”
A second wrote: “Disgraceful, especially after that four-minute round eight.” One asked: “What about that 8th round? How is that even possible to happen on this level?”
Have you ever seen anything like this before? Let us know in the comments section.
(Image: Getty Images)
Another quipped: “How many minutes are the rounds in next fight?” And one joked: “That four-minute round must have counted as two rounds then.”
One posted: “Timekeeper gotta go, round eight being a minute over is unacceptable. Was rooting for Jack but he definitely didn’t win, a draw at most.”
And another furious viewer added: “Absolute fix. Total joke. Letting the 8th round go 30 seconds over when Jack had the upper hand certainly doesn’t seem like a mistake after the judges decision. As if you can accidentally go 30 seconds over anyway…”
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