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The camp of Joshua Clottey has protested against Referee Robert Byrd's ruling that the cut over Zab Judah's right eye in last Sunday dawn's IBF title fight was a result of a headbutt.
The camp has subsequently demanded that Clottey should be credited with a technical knockout win over Judah, after Judah was unable to continue the bout in the ninth round.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic from his New York base in the United States yesterday, Clottey said his manager, Vincent Scolpino, has formally written to the sanctioning body, IBF, to that effect.
"We have asked for clarification as to which of the rounds the headbutt happened.
"We believe the verdict should have been a TKO, instead of calling for the score cards at that time, because we don't think there was any headbutt," Clottey said.
Referee Byrd stopped the fight one minute 22 seconds into the round when Judah bled profusely from the deep cut over his right eye. Clottey then screamed in ecstacy at the decision.
Moments later an astonished Clottey began to protest over the referee's call that the injury was caused by a headbutt, a decision that necessitated the call for the score cards. Two of the score cards read 86-85, while the third had it 87-84, all in favour of the Ghanaian.
The new champion said the referee's attitude throughout the fight had given him discomfort until he experienced the shocker of the ninth round.
"Judah kept clinching and the referee sort of approved as he remained indifferent to the attitude of Judah. In almost all cases, I had to free myself from his grips with little concern from the referee," he said.
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