Well Done, Boxing
It should have been the night on which Maxi Hughes finally capitalised on his boxing purple patch, leaving Oklahoma as mandatory for a major lightweight title. Somehow, it wasn’t.
Instead, the night belonged to two faceless judges, whose shameful cards in favour of George Kambosos left a taste more than bitter.
Whether it was deceit, or just sheer incompetence, may they realise they have broken the dreams of one of boxing’s most honest men.
With his eye on more lucrative fights past Hughes, former world champion Kambosos may well have felt he had to merely participate to have his hand raised – and it turns out he was right.
However, for 12 rounds, IBO champion Hughes fought an intelligent fight. He attentively followed a well-drawn gameplan, making the fight look almost undemanding in patches.
It is pretty simple to attribute why it looked as such too. CompuBox stats had Hughes landing 25 percent of his jabs in comparison to Kambosos’ 9 percent - bear in mind, Hughes also threw 87 less jabs.
That output from Hughes left Kambosos with limited opportunities to counter; the style in which he perfected for his 2021 win over Teofimo Lopez.
That win was Kambosos’ last prior to Saturday night. It should still be his last now.
For a fighter like Hughes - as charismatic and charming as he is - who doesn’t fit the bill for the glamorous lightweight storyline, this will be a result quickly swept under the carpet.
Even worse, though, will be the night he has to watch the man he beat reap the reward.
That reward will likely be a shot at the vacant IBF belt, or even worse, a ‘huge stadium fight’ with Vasyl Lomachenko. Talk about salt in the wounds.
It also begs the question, what is the point of boxing? It sounds ludicrous, but once competitive sport becomes pre-determined, we might as well revert to watching WWE.
As I said earlier, it may well just be that the three men sitting ringside genuinely see something we don’t.
I don’t see how that would be the case, but Josef Mason’s 117-111 in favour of Kambosos just cannot be from the fight I was watching on Saturday night.
Maybe we do need to see some accountability from judges, who despite having control over some of the biggest fights, remain largely anonymous amongst the boxing circles.
However, I’m sure an interview with Josef Mason after the weekend’s events may well have caused me to dropkick my TV.
Hughes will be back; he’s suffered too many setbacks to let this one go. It is just a shame that this time was as unjust as they’ll ever come.
Oscar Bevis
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