Zelfa Barrett's victory over Kiko Martinez in the penultimate bout of Matchroom Boxing's first card of 2021 has attracted a lot of buzz. Unfortunately most of it has nothing to do with the genuinely absorbing contest the two super-featherweights put on at the SSE Arena.
Well-travelled veteran Martinez gave Barrett all kinds of trouble in the first half of their 12-rounder, before the British prospect rallied in the 'championship rounds' to ensure a very tough decision for the three appointed judges.
Unfortunately, Howard Foster, Steve Gray and Bob Williams — all British themselves — appeared to be watching a different fight to everybody else. Gray and Williams somehow scored the close contest 118-111 in Barrett's favour, while Foster had it 116-113 for the home fighter.
Boxing has long had an issue with partisan scorecards, not just in the UK but in the United States, Germany and Argentina to name just a few notable examples. The reality is that it's common pretty much everywhere that stages one boxer in their own country against an overseas opponent. But in recent years, Britain has been particularly rife.
Few expected Barrett's own promoter, Eddie Hearn, to publicly criticise a result that favours his business. However that's exactly what he did in an empassioned rant live on-air moments after the bout.
"Zelfa’s our fighter and it was a close fight," Hearn said. "But 118-111 is absolutely disgusting for Kiko Martinez.
"How are we gonna bring foreign fighters to this country when they get absolutely zero credit for their performance?
"And again, it’s nothing to do with Zelfa’s performance. You could rightfully say he won the fight. But if he won the fight, he won it by a round, or two rounds. But 118-111? He might as well not have bothered.
"Listen, I think we’ve got some fantastic officials. But 118-111 doesn’t do anyone any favours. Barrett won’t get the credit for the win because everyone will be talking about the scorecards. Kiko won’t get credit for the fact that, for 12 rounds, he was relentless and at worst he lost by a round or two.
"Otherwise, how are we going to bring world class fighters to this country if we see scorecards like that. And it wasn’t one card, it was two of them.
"We’ve seen them before. And it doesn’t do me any favours, it doesn’t do Zelfa any and it doesn’t do Kiko any.
"These guys are putting their health and their life on the line. And after all that effort, Kiko might as well have boxed off the back foot, and had an easy night."
It also appears that a rematch is Hearn's next plan for Barrett.
"I wanna see it again," continued Hearn. "I wanna see Kiko Martinez get another chance because he deserves it. But big credit to Zelfa Barrett, by the way. It was a tough fight and the perfect learning fight for him. It was dirty, it was rough, he’s cut.
"I’d have liked him to have won by split decision, and we could all be saying ‘what a great fight, well done Zelfa Barrett’ right now. We could have debated a close fight.
"Instead, we’re talking about scorecards again. And it’s wrong. It’s a disgrace for Kiko Martinez."