Jack Catterall claims his dreams were stolen after a controversial split decision saw Josh Taylor retain his WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO light-welterweight belts in Glasgow.
The Chorley fighter put the champion down in the eighth round for a count of eight and looked to have got the better of the Scot over 12 rounds which kept referee Marcus McDonnell busy.
The Englishman, and much of the sell-out crowd at the OVO Hydro in Glasgow, were surprised when two judges gave it 114-111 and 113-112 to the 31-year-old champion who now has a 19-0-0 record.
Reacting on Instagram, Catterall claimed two years of work was all for nothing.
He said: “You know what hurts the most, it wasn’t for me I done all of this for my family my team my town and country.
“My baby girl and misses, our future. Today I should of been waking up with all of the belts. 15 months out the ring, they all wrote me off. F***ed me in every way possible for over two years, finally got the fight.
“Sacrificed everything to fight one of the top p4p ranked fighters, gave him a lesson. For what. Boxing shame on you. Judges 🖕🏽 Dreams stolen.”
His trainer Jamie Moore described the decision as “disgusting”.
Moore told Sky Sports: “He stepped aside on the promise that he would get the opportunity, he gets the opportunity and he performs like that, beats the champion in his own backyard, and gets absolutely robbed.
“So think about the message it sends to people? My son is 16 and getting into boxing.
“He’ll be looking at that and thinking why should I get into boxing?
“The moment you work for, for all your life, to get crowned a world champion after a performance like that, is snatched away from you. It’s disgusting.
“Jack is absolutely heartbroken.”
Taylor thought he had done enough to keep his belts.
He said: “100 per cent. I started slow as I tried to get my timing. I caught him with the bigger shots. He tried to spoil, he leaned in a lot and there was a clash of heads.
“I’m not going to lie, he caught me with a couple of good shots as well.
“It wasn’t my best performance. I put a hell of a lot of pressure on myself this week with the homecoming and my first fight here in three years.
“There was a lot of pressure as the big favourite. But I believe I started catching him with bigger shots. It wasn’t my best but I thought I got the win, 100 per cent.”
