Nina Hughes remembers hearing the words “... and still the WBA bantamweight world champion”, before pumping her fists in the air and hugging her opponent. But then, last Saturday in Perth, came the stomach-churning mistake that left her feeling devastated and numb.
First the ring announcer Dan Hennessey called the fighters back to the centre of the ring. Then he started reading the scores again. Before, incredibly, declaring Hughes’s opponent, Cherneka Johnson, as the winner by majority decision instead.
It was one of the stranger scenes seen in a boxing ring – and having arrived back home to Essex, the 41-year-old Hughes is still trying to process it.
“We were all confident I’d won, so when they announced the scoring I thought, ‘Oh brilliant, I’ve got it’,” she tells the Guardian. “I had my hands raised, and they had even come over with the camera. I was just about to do the post-fight interview but then they started dragging me back by my hand.
“I was thinking, ‘What’s going on? What’s going on?’ And then when I heard the ring announcer start to announce the score again I started to feel numb. I just knew that it was going to turn the other way.”
It was Hughes’s first defeat of her seven-fight professional career, and when asked if Hennessey apologised to her, she replies: “No, he just said he read it wrong. He told me that the scorecards are all different, and it’s just a mistake. But I don’t know how he could have done it. I’m sure it’s got the person on it.
“It’s a weird feeling really because I was really happy with how I performed and I thought I did enough to win the fight. It’s devastating that my world title has just been taken away from me.”
Hughes admits she was particularly surprised by the Japanese judge who scored it 98-92 for her opponent. “I do wonder if he got it the wrong way round because looking at his scorecard, he has me losing the first three whereas I thought I quite clearly won them. And I thought I might have lost the fourth round, and he had me winning it which is a bit odd.
“I am still angry. We knew it was a risk going to Australia but I just believed in my ability to beat her. All I wanted was for it to be a fair playing field and unfortunately I didn’t feel like I got that. It happens in all levels of boxing but it’s just when you’ve worked so hard to get your world title, to lose it in this way is obviously devastating.”
However, Hughes remains hopeful that her promoter Lou DiBella can secure her a rematch. “I’ve not heard anything yet,” she says. “It’s all down to the WBA. I am just praying they do the right thing. But it has to be on neutral territory.”
And she is also full of praise for Johnson, who came into her dressing room afterwards and said: “I’m sorry, I’m not the judge.” Hughes says: “I’ve got nothing against Cherneka and her team. They have been lovely and respectful throughout – both before and after the fight.”
