Judge who gave Anthony Joshua victory over Oleksandr Usyk had AJ 5-1 up after six rounds
Anthony Joshua fell to a hugely disappointing split-decision defeat to Oleksandr Usyk on Saturday night, but the one judge who saw it otherwise inexplicably had the Briton 5-1 up after six rounds.
The 32-year-old, after suffering a unanimous decision defeat to the masterful Ukrainian last September, put in a much-improved performance as he looked to regain his collection of heavyweight belts.
Joshua made a positive start to the fight, perhaps nicking the opening two or three rounds, but two of the three judges had it even at the halfway point, while many onlookers had the Ukrainian pulling away.
Anthony Joshua (right) fell to a split-decision defeat to Oleksandr Usyk (left) on Saturday
But the judge who gave Joshua the victory somehow had AJ 5-1 up at the halfway point
After 12 gruelling and entertaining rounds, Usyk was announced the split-decision victor, with Joshua claiming one score of 115-113, while the Ukrainian was given one of 115-113 and another of 116-112.
It was the American judge, Glenn Feldman, who scored the fight differently to most, giving Joshua five of the first six rounds, as well as the 12th and final round, eventually coming to a total of 115-113.
The judge from Usyk’s home country of Ukraine gave the fight 116-112 to the champion, in a total that was perhaps harsh on the challenger, while the British judge saw it 115-113 in favour of the eventual winner.
Usyk, the deserved winner, retained his WBA, WBO and IBF belts, while adding Tyson Fury’s recently-vacated Ring Magazine title to his ever-growing collection.
The Ukrainian in the immediate aftermath insisted only wants WBC champion Fury next in an historic undisputed showdown, while the Gypsy King immediately announced he is coming out of retirement – again – after the fight.
Regardless of Usyk claiming a deserved victory, a number of fans have taken to Twitter to outline their outrage after seeing Feldman’s controversial scorecard.
A number of boxing fans were left outraged after seeing Glenn Feldman’s scorecard
One fan wrote: ‘That’s not even close to being a split-decision. Don’t let him judge again please.’
Another wrote: Feldman is definitely high if he thinks that AJ won that final round… he needs to be drugs tested immediately.’
One fan simply responded: ‘Feldman had Joshua 5-1 up after 6. That’s a disgrace.’
More to follow…
