Billy Nelson has warned Eddie Hearn that he will struggle to get away fighters to box on his shows unless they start receiving a fairer shake. The renowned trainer was speaking in reference to Dillian Whyte’s controversial majority decision win over Jermaine Franklin last month.
Nelson believes Franklin won the fight by two rounds, but Whyte was given the nod by the judges with scorecards of 115-115, 116-112 and 116-112.
Speaking to Seconds Out, he said: “I thought he [Whyte] lost by two rounds. I feel right sorry for the American boy [Franklin]. It’s happening a lot on Matchroom shows, the scoring, it’s getting to a ridiculous stage where they’re going to struggle to get genuine world title fights.
“People are just going to say ‘we’re going to get robbed here. We’re going to win and get robbed’. That was a bad decision. It wasn’t a robbery, but I thought he won the fight. I was watching it and I was reading it online and very few people had Dillian winning.
“I had a seven-week camp, I’ve done what I could. I’m down for a rematch if they give it to me, but I felt like I won, I felt like I got robbed on the decision.
“I proved a lot of people wrong. I prove people wrong every day, that’s what we do. A lot of people look, and they judge but they don’t have the heart to step in here and fight.”
Whyte now moves on to his long-awaited rematch with Anthony Joshua. The exact date is dependent on Whyte’s recovery from the Franklin fight with March being teased for AJ’s in-ring return and a summer date pending as a backup.
If Whyte cannot meet Joshua in the ring in early 2023, Otto Wallin is the most likely replacement opponent. The big Swede recently confirmed that there have been discussions between his promoter Dmitry Salita and Hearn regarding the possibility of staging the contest.