Morden’s Lenny Daws was denied an opportunity to finally claim the European super-lightweight title, as he was disqualified by incompetent Danish referee Freddy Rafn in front of his home crowd at the Westcroft Leisure Centre in Carshalton for what he perceived as an deliberate headbutt on Spaniard Ruben Nieto.
Although replays showed the head clash was purely accidental, Rafn threw Daws out after 56 seconds of the 10th round, robbing Daws who looked to be on the way to victory and handing Nieto the title in what has to be one of the worst refereeing performances on these shores in recent years.
Rafn had no control from the start of the fight, which was a captivating contest until he intervened. Daws recovered from an awful third round, where he was dropped by a solid right hand and was ahead, as his Spanish opponent appeared to be running out of ideas.
The fight, broadcast on Channel 5, was a genuine fight of the year contender, and a rematch has to be a certainty, although it remains to be seen whether it is back in the UK or in Nieto’s backyard in Spain.
Daws boxed well when he kept it at a distance, however he kept falling in after his shots, which played into Nieto’s hands, as he dragged Daws into a real scrap. Daws took the 1st, with some nice skills, however Nieto had him under pressure.
A late onslaught from the Spaniard in the 2nd evened the fight up, before Nieto’s big round in the 3rd where the knockdown put him ahead. Daws recovered to take the 4th and began to take control, countering Nieto to take the 5th and 6th as well.
However, the 7th was a debacle, as Daws was caught with a low blow and turned away, prompting Rafn to give him a standing count. The Danish referee did however manage to do something right, as he took a point off Nieto for another low blow later in the round.
Daws shrugged off the decision and really went through the gears in the 8th and 9th, to put himself within touching distance of a dream European title. Both men had already been cut, Daws in the 3rd and Nieto in the 5th, and the doctor was called after the final clash of heads in the 10th.
Nieto’s cut was worse and the doctor seemingly called off the fight. However, referee Rafn decided it was a deliberate headbutt from Daws, as both corners were celebrating in the centre of the ring, only adding to the confusion.
As the announcement was made Daws looked shocked, whilst his promoter Mick Hennessy, who carved out this opportunity was fuming, as the Morden man, two weeks shy of his 37th birthday was robbed again in a European title fight.
The former two-time British champion deserves a rematch with Nieto, who can count himself a lucky man, despite the huge effort he put in.
Earlier in the night, there were first round stoppage wins for Hughie Fury, cousin of the new world heavyweight champion Tyson, over Larry Olubamiwo and Danny “Cassius” Connor who stopped Bulgarian Radoslav Mitev.
Former amateur star Andrew Selby, brother of IBF featherweight champion Lee, won every round over the tough Nicaraguan Everth Briceno, whilst Belfast cruiserweight Tommy McCarthy, who is trained by Brian Magee, also won 60-54 over Martin Szatmari.
- Matt Bevan / @MBevs68
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