Dillian Whyte slams Jermaine Franklin’s ‘robbed’ claim amid controversial majority decision win
- Lewis Oldham
- 27 November 2022
Dillian Whyte has hit out at Jermaine Franklin after the American questioned the judge’s scoring after their fight on Saturday night.
Whyte and Franklin headlined a Matchroom boxing card at Wembley Arena and the Brit triumphed by majority decision.
One judge scored the bout 115-115, while the others had it 116-112 in the favour of Whyte.
Franklin is now 21-1 following his first professional defeat and he was left fuming by the scorecards.
"I felt like I got robbed," Franklin said in the ring post-fight.
"I felt like I did enough to get the decision. I felt like I won the earlier rounds. I just felt like I got robbed on the decision."
Franklin was a surprise package on the night as he gave Whyte a tough fight in what was the latter's return bout after losing to Tyson Fury in April.
Whyte came on strong in the later rounds but Franklin's solid start made it a close contest and 116-112 is unfair on the beaten fighter.
'The Body Snatcher' defended himself after his victory by claiming that he beat Franklin "by four rounds".
"I thought I won the fight by four rounds," Whyte told Boxing UK.
"Four rounds clear. But it is what it is, it's boxing. You can cry about this, cry about that, it is boxing.
"There's three judges, that's the thing that sucks about boxing because one judge might like aggression, one judge might like boxing, one judge might like slugging.
"You never know. We've seen fights where you'll go "what? What're these guys watching?" that's boxing."
WHAT A SCRAP! 💥 #WhyteFranklin
— ESPN Ringside (@ESPNRingside) November 26, 2022
(via @MatchroomBoxing)
pic.twitter.com/CWUERinJyp
Matchroom supremo Eddie Hearn did not think Whyte won as comfortably as it was a "very close fight".
"I thought Dillian won the championship rounds to win the fight by a round, maybe two rounds." Hearn told iFL TV.
"I can see a draw, and when it is 115-113 I can see it the other way as well. So I don't blame people for thinking Franklin might've nicked the fight because it was a very close fight."
