Maxi Hughes suffers controversial loss to George Kambosos Jr after questionable judges’ decision

Former IBF, WBA and WBO king Kambosos emerged victorious at the FireLake Arena in Shawnee, Oaklahoma on Saturday night after two judges scored the bout in his favour, with another awarding a draw.

Hughes stifled his opponent for much of the fight to take the sting out of his explosive punches and regularly landed aggressive counters in reply.

The judges saw the fight 114-114, 117-111 and 11-113 for Kambosos, however, who will now get a chance to regain the IBF lightweight title.

"It was a bit of a kick in the b*llocks if I'm honest,” Hughes said of the decision, which brought to an end his seven-fight winning streak.

“Now I feel a bit stupid stood here in a cowbow hat.”

The son of Rossington, who was backed by about 30 supporters from the UK inside the venue, wore a cowboy hat on his ring walk and after the final bell – a nod to his debut Stateside.

He was a picture of focus and discipline for large parts and turned on the style with some slick defence, but may have been punished for not coming forward enough.

"I'm absolutely devastated,” added Hughes.

“I should have had my hand raised. I don't want to take George's moment. I'm gutted.”

The crowd inside the arena booed the decision, which was also criticised on social media.

Kambosos did not rule out a rematch but will now prioritise becoming a world champion again after putting consecutive defeats to Devin Haney behind him, albeit unconvincingly.

"We won the fight by many rounds, but that's no discredit to Maxi,” he said.

"He had a couple of good rounds, but a couple of good rounds doesn't win you a fight.

"The majority of the rounds I won. He done his movement and he wasn't too much engaging [sic], but that's the way he fights.

"He's going to bounce back, he's a tough challenger. If the opportunity is there, we will give him another rematch."

Before the fight Kambosos told Hughes he would “take his head off.”

He looked most threatening in the sixth when his opponent was cut on the forehead by a clash of heads.

Kambosos was also cut above the eye and momentarily rocked in the fifth after being caught twice in quick succession.

The Australian had been slower off the mark and failed to trouble Hughes for any lengthy period.

He enjoyed success in the relatively brief moments when the contest opened up, and his fast hands ensured Hughes couldn’t ever afford to switch off.

But the Brit boxed to plan and many will feel he did enough to retain his IBO World Lightweight title and set up a potentially life-changing fight.

Hughes vowed to come again following the sixth defeat of his professional career.

"Everybody here now knows who Maxi Hughes is,” he said.

"I want to earn the dollars to provide for my family, show everyone who Maxi Hughes is and how good I can be. We'll see what's next."

Doncaster’s super-welterweight prospect Jake Goodwin was also in action on Saturday night.

Fighting closer to home in Wakefield, the 25-year-old lost his winning record after a points defeat to Artem Liashevych.