Sammartino, from Rhode Island in the United States, handed in a scorecard judging the wrong fighter in Belfast on Saturday night, causing a huge shock in the Lee Haskins v Ryan Burnett world title fight. 25-year-old Ryan Burnett is 16-0 as a professional, and the current British bantamweight champion has already showed a wide range of styles inside the ring.
A judge who wrongly called Lee Haskins the victor against Ryan Burnett will never again officiate in the United Kingdom, according to British boxing's top administrator.
"I think it's going to be exactly the same in the pro game".
The American judge Clark Sammartino incredibly somehow saw the bout in Haskins' favour, and even though it appears the judge mixed up the two boxers in his scoring, Robert Smith, the British Boxing Board of Control secretary, insisted that Sammartino would never judge a world title again in this country and was scathing in his criticism of Sammartino after the fight.
Burnett is hoping to follow in the footsteps of Northern Ireland's former world bantamweight kings Johnny Caldwell (1961-62) and Wayne McCullough (1995-1997), as well as Carl Frampton who won the IBF super-bantamweight belt in September 2014 not far from where Burnett has his first shot at global glory. All of his last five fights have gone the distance, as a more cerebral Burnett has appeared.
Sailing-Japan test new design model for America's Cup challenge
Oracle Team USA leads with six points, followed by Emirates Team New Zealand with five and Land Rover BAR with four. That came in a 4:06 whitewashing of Groupama Team France, which was eliminated with one race to sail.
Burnett has put in the hard yards since joining up with trainer Adam Booth and he is convinced that now is his time to shine. I've built myself for the best Lee Haskins. He's 80-odd; I've never seen anything like it.
"I've certainly made my thoughts felt to the supervisor of the IBF, who is in agreement with me", Smith told Sky Sports.
The bookmakers also believe that Burnett is going to succeed, pricing the contender as a 1/3 favourite.
"I know Haskins is a bit of an awkward character, but it's a fight we want and fight I know I can deal with, so it was a smart decision to take it", he added.
There are slim pickings to enjoy on the undercard, but keep an eye on Paul Hyland Jr vs Adam Dingsdale and the return of Mike Perez at cruiserweight.
Comments