‘That has to be impossible’ – Eddie Hearn stunned as fans react to ‘disgrace’ on Devin Haney vs Ryan Garcia undercard
Arnold Barboza was handed a controversial split decision win over Sean McComb on Saturday night.
The super-lightweight contest served as chief support for Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia's grudge match at the Barclays Centre in New York - and it looked as though McComb had done enough to win it when the final bell sounded.
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McComb pushed the pace throughout and looked to be the busier fighter.
However, the judges gave to Barboza on a split with one having it 98-92 in McComb's favour while the other two scored it 96-94 and 97-93 the other way.
Watching on from ringside, Eddie Hearn couldn't believe his ears as the scorecards were read out.
"How on earth do you have a scorecard that is 98-92 for McComb and 97-93 for Barboza?" said the Matchroom Boxing chief on the DAZN broadcast.
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"Makes absolutely no sense at all. I thought McComb won.
"The wideness of the scorecards, that has to be impossible. It just doesn't make sense."
Hearn wasn't alone in his assessment of the fight. Fans flocked to social media to cry robbery.
Reacting to the decision, one fan tweeted: "Wow! McComb has been absolutely robbed there! How do we honestly still get these scorecards?"
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Another wrote: "Arnold Barboza Jr. gets the highly controversial split decision win over Sean McComb.
"You have to feel for McComb there. Boxed beautifully and absolutely won that fight. Terrible decision. Unbelievable."
A third added: "WTF!!! Straight robbery! It was good defensive skills from McComb.
"Definitely should have gave it to Sean McComb, Barboza didn’t have enough… they robbed McComb! Why did they raise his hand?"
Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn previews Ryan Garcia's upcoming title fight against Devin Haney
According to the CompuBox, McComb out-landed Barboza in six of the ten rounds.
Meanwhile, both men were separated by three or fewer landed punches in eight of the ten rounds.
The overall punch stats were close with McComb landing 107 punches to Barboza's 99 but the cleaner work was undoubtedly landed by the Irishman.
42 per cent of Barboza's shots were body punches.
The favourite was angling for a fight with WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson next, after calling him out on social media prior to his win.
But after labouring to a controversial split decision, Stevenson took to social media to dismiss the chances of any showdown taking place in the near future.
He wrote on Twitter: "Arnold Barboza should never mention my name!"
At the top of the bill, Garcia caused a huge upset knocking down Haney three times en route to a majority decision victory.
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