Joshua Buatsi wins grueling British light-heavyweight bout over Zach Parker in controversial decision.
In a closely watched contest that had many ringside observers convinced Zach Parker was the deserving winner, Joshua Buatsi emerged victorious after a 12-round contest to improve his professional record to 20-1.
Parker, who suffered a first defeat in five fights, was left fuming after the judges' decision gave him a narrow victory on two of the three scorecards. The British light-heavyweight said he "won that fight easy" and claimed that every single person at ringside believed he had done enough to win.
"I won literally almost every round," Parker stated. "If I outbox him and he can't even touch me, I should be champion now and going on to bigger fights."
Many observers agreed with Parker's assessment, but the judges saw it differently. One judge scored the contest a 95-95 draw, while two others gave Buatsi a narrow victory of 96-94.
The decision was marred by excessive holding throughout the contest, which resulted in Parker dropping from the clinches to the canvas multiple times. Parker argued that he should have been penalized for this behavior, and the referee's failure to intervene allowed Buatsi to continue his tactics.
Buatsi, who looked unimpressed by Parker's strategies, said "I don't know what style that is." He was less critical of himself, stating that a champion wins regardless of how they win.
In a closely watched contest that had many ringside observers convinced Zach Parker was the deserving winner, Joshua Buatsi emerged victorious after a 12-round contest to improve his professional record to 20-1.
Parker, who suffered a first defeat in five fights, was left fuming after the judges' decision gave him a narrow victory on two of the three scorecards. The British light-heavyweight said he "won that fight easy" and claimed that every single person at ringside believed he had done enough to win.
"I won literally almost every round," Parker stated. "If I outbox him and he can't even touch me, I should be champion now and going on to bigger fights."
Many observers agreed with Parker's assessment, but the judges saw it differently. One judge scored the contest a 95-95 draw, while two others gave Buatsi a narrow victory of 96-94.
The decision was marred by excessive holding throughout the contest, which resulted in Parker dropping from the clinches to the canvas multiple times. Parker argued that he should have been penalized for this behavior, and the referee's failure to intervene allowed Buatsi to continue his tactics.
Buatsi, who looked unimpressed by Parker's strategies, said "I don't know what style that is." He was less critical of himself, stating that a champion wins regardless of how they win.
. It's like, what's the criteria for a winner here? Is it just about landing more punches or is there something deeper at play? The holding, the clinching... it's all part of the game, but when does it become an advantage? And the referee, they're supposed to be impartial, but sometimes you can't help but wonder if they were influenced by something 
.
. And for Parker, well... he's gotta pick himself up, dust himself off, and keep moving forward 
. It's not the end of the world, but it is a setback. Still, you've got to respect his game plan and his determination 
.
i mean buatsi did do enough to win, but come on the excessive holding by parker gotta be called out for that... it's not fair to just sit there and take a beating while holding onto the guy all round 
. parker seemed so convinced he won and the crowd agreed with him too 
. buatsi was pretty calm about it tho, which is impressive, but still think parker had some good rounds and shouldn't have lost by such a small margin 
. excessive holding is just not cool and you'd think ref would step in sooner, especially when someone drops to the ground like that 
. also, it's clear buatsi didn't wanna engage with parker's game plan and just kinda phoned it in 
. zach was all over buatsi's body but somehow won only two out of three scorecards? what's up with that 
. Zach Parker was clearly in control for most of the fight, but those two judges saw some kinda magic in Buatsi's holding and clinching that just didn't exist 
The ref should've called out the excessive holding and penalized Buatsi for it, but nope, just let him keep doing his thing 
. And don't even get me started on the whole "every single person at ringside believed" thing - I was convinced Zach Parker was winning by a mile 
! It's wild how much drama there was in that last round, it looked like he was getting pummeled and yet still managed to outscore Buatsi 
. Still, if he won that fight easy like Parker said, maybe that's just the British light-heavyweight style? 
The inconsistency in scoring is insane! One judge scores it a draw, while another thinks Buatsi's holding is perfectly fine? Come on, folks!