‘A close fight is not a robbery’: George Kambosos Jr defends decision win over Maxi Hughes

George Kambosos Jr spoke further today about Saturday night’s fight with Maxi Hughes, which has drummed up the standard amount of Boxing Controversy due to the scoring of the bout, which saw Kambosos win a heavily-debated majority decision.

Kambosos, who picked up the No. 2 spot in the IBF lightweight rankings with the eliminator victory, said the fight was not a robbery, and gave Hughes plenty of credit for being a tough opponent.

“A close fight is not a robbery,” Kambosos said on social media. “Listen, it was a close, gritty victory against a top 10 lightweight ... in my return fight. Went straight into a tough test instead of taking a stiff. Do yourself a favor and mute that biased commentary and rewatch the fight. And then tell me exactly what you think, as many people have gone back, done that, and seen the decision was fair and correct.

“Yes, I think 117-111 was too far off for a scorecard, but I don’t control the judges’ view and the effective aggression they are seeing, but an 8-4, 7-5 decision our way was right.

“With that being said, though, full respect to Maxi Hughes. We knew he would come to fight and we knew how dangerous he was. A true top 10 lightweight. We give him the utmost respect and it was an honor to share the ring with another warrior and family man like myself.”

Kambosos (21-2, 10 KO) has taken a lot of heat, so it’s only natural that he gets a bit defensive, and to be entirely fair to him, no, he didn’t score the fight. And that’s always something to remember about any decision you question; the fighter just did their job in there, however it went. Three judges score it.

Hughes (26-6-2, 5 KO) said after the bout that he was “absolutely devastated,” while Shakur Stevenson — sat ringside — called it out as a robbery.