Lerrone Richards has spoken of his heartbreak following his highly controversial points loss to Albert Ramirez in Montreal, Canada.
Richards, 19-2 (4 KOs), boxed excellently from the start, negating the threat from the heavily favored Ramirez, who was defending the WBA interim light heavyweight belt.
At the end, though, two judges liked Ramirez via scores of 115-113. Only one score, 116-112 to Richards, seemed to tell the story of a fight that had been postponed at the 11th hour in February.
“What can I say – I am truly disappointed with the decision,” Richards wrote on social media.
“After the fight was called off in February, and two back-to-back hard training camps and time away from my two beautiful sons and family, and the heavy financial commitments required to train for a world-level fight in Canada, I was absolutely shocked by the decision last night.
“I won that fight, and I am yet to speak to someone who doesn’t agree. After the fight a lot of the crowd came up to me saying I won the fight.
“In the fight, I was in total control throughout, outboxing, out-landing and out-fighting my opponent, during the whole duration of the fight.
“I put everything into this performance and camp that preceded it and I am truly gutted to say the least to be coming home without the belt.
“I believe my performance showed that I belong at world level, and I feel I deserve a next opportunity to win a world title.
“I would like to say thank you to my team, as the training camps went perfectly, and I felt so confident and prepared for this fight.
“Onwards and upwards to the next opportunity: I proved I belong at this level and I will continue to work hard to become world champion again.”
