Joshua Buatsi beats Zach Parker in controversial decision after gruelling British light-heavyweight clash | Boxing News

Zach Parker said he was “furious” after losing a controversial decision to fellow Briton Joshua Buatsi at light heavyweight on Saturday.

One referee scored the Manchester game a 95-95 draw, while the other two referees saw it as a 96-94 victory for Buatsi.

After suffering his first defeat in five matches, reducing his record to 27 wins to 4, Parker insisted that the decision should have gone his way.

“I’m angry. I won this fight easily. I think everyone at ringside said I won it,” he told DAZN.

“I literally won almost every round. If I beat him and he can’t even touch me, I should be champion now and fight bigger fights.”

Many observers at ringside thought Parker had done enough to win the ill-fated contest.

“Everyone has eyes, so they can see the fight,” Parker added. “He can’t even hit me clean. I should be a hero. I’m angry.

“(I probably gave him) one round, and that was early. In the later rounds, he couldn’t even catch me. I was comfortable there.

“I have to keep going for bigger titles and bigger financial fights. I’m trying to change my daughter’s life, making decisions like that.”

Olympic bronze medalist Buatsi (20-1) returned to winning ways after suffering the first defeat of his professional career to Callum Smith in February.

“I have to admit that this was not my best performance, but what do champions do? They win. No matter how you achieve it, you have to accept it,” Buatsi said.

“You can’t hit the ground six times and pretend you’re going to make it.”

The fight was somewhat spoiled by excessive gripping throughout, which on several occasions resulted in Parker falling from pinfall to the canvas.

Each felt that the other should be punished for his tactics.

“When he pushed me down, ‘What do you want me to do?'” Parker said.

“I can’t keep lifting him. He’s 14 stone or something, I’ll be wasting my energy. If he was pushing me down, the referee would probably say: ‘Stop pushing him down.’ I won’t keep coming down to earth after that.

“You might be a little bit feisty sometimes, but if this is how you can win a fight and beat him and beat him in the head all night, he won’t even be able to catch me with a bullet.”

Buatsi, with whom the judges seemed to agree, was unimpressed by Parker’s tactics.

“I don’t know what style is,” Buatsi Siad said.

“You keep holding the ground and standing your ground… You can’t be on the ground six times and claim you’ve won the fight.”

The controversial nature of the decision is likely to increase calls for a rematch, but the lack of entertainment produced by the fight may prompt Buatsi’s new promoter, Frank Warren, to think twice before resorting to such an option.