At the SSE Arena, Belfast, Ryan Burnett dominated reigning champion Lee Haskins to remain unbeaten and claim the IBF Bantamweight title. Burnett bagged a bizarre Split Decision (more on that below), taking the belt on two scores of 119-107, with Haskins taking a 118-108 tally. BB saw the action 119-107, Burnett.
The official verdict was highly controversial, although it’s very plausible that judge Clark Sammartino actually tallied matters correctly, with his major blunder being that he simply “ticked the wrong box”, as promoter Eddie Hearn also suspected post fight. We can now sit back and wait for the good people of the Twitterverse to go nuts.
Following this career-defining win, Burnett jumps to 17 wins, 9 knockouts, while Haskins falls to 34 wins, 4 defeats, 14 knockouts.
Amidst numerous head clashes – more owed to a clash of styles than foul play – Burnett conclusively bossed the action, scoring two knockdowns, both from rocket right hands, in the 6th and 11th stanzas. The quicker, technically superior Burnett, however, was unable to stop a tough, valiant Haskins, who fought on gamely despite suffering a possible right shoulder injury in the 6th.
Ryan Burnett now enters a deep Bantamweight scene, filled with plenty of stern tests and the unbeaten elite, Shinsuke Yamanaka, who leads the Top 10.
Haskins vs Burnett: Undercard
- Cruiserweight climber Luke Watkins (11-0, 7 KO) made quick work of challenger Ian Tims (13-4, 4 KO), bossing the action en route to a 4th round knockout.
- James Tennyson (19-2, 15 KO) continued his comeback with win number three, here retiring Ryan Doyle (14-2-1, 8 KO) in the 6th round. Tennyson, who was stopped by Ryan Walsh last April, continues on the Junior Lightweight trail.
- Lightweight startup Paul Hyland Jr (16-0, 6 KO) wasted no time against an overwhelmed Adam Dingsdale (16-4-1, 4 KO), ruthlessly wiping out his man in the opener to land the European belt.
- Mike Perez (22-2-1, 14 KO) ended a two-year layoff with a forgettable encounter against Viktor Biscak (10-1, 7 KO). Biscak retired himself from the Cruiserweight bout after being dropped shortly after the first bell. On the plus side, Perez, who was crushed by Alexander Povetkin in 2015, looks to be in fine shape physically, supposedly now rebuilt for what could be a promising run down at Cruiser.
- Feargal McCrory (6-0, 3 KO) added another win to his building Junior Lightweight campaign with a 2nd round stoppage of Paul Holt (6-5, 2 KO).
- Matthew Wilton (16-0, 3 KO) was unable to stop William Warburton (23-116-9, 4 KO), but had zero problems trumping the extremely well-travelled journeyman over six rounds. Scorecards for the Junior Middleweight encounter came in at 60-54.
Give us your take on Lee Haskins vs Ryan Burnett in the comments, plus the rest of the Belfast lineup.
