{"id":745898,"date":"2026-02-06T09:03:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T09:03:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/745898\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T09:03:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T09:03:15","slug":"britains-newest-world-champion-could-be-set-for-immediate-rematch-after-controversial-scorecard-causes-stir","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/745898\/","title":{"rendered":"Britain’s newest world champion could be set for immediate rematch after controversial scorecard causes stir"},"content":{"rendered":"

Josh Kelly may be forced to run back his victory over Bakhram Murtazaliev.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Tyne and Wear technician defeated Murtazaliev via majority decision last month to claim the IBF super welterweight title<\/a> in front of an adoring home crowd at the Utilita Newcastle Arena.<\/p>\n

\"Kelly<\/a><\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

Kelly is the new IBF super welterweight championCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

It was a close, competitive contest that saw both men exchange knockdowns.<\/a><\/p>\n

Judge Pawel Kardyni\u00a0scored the contest 113-113 even, while Steve Gray and John Basile had it 114-113 and 115-111 in Kelly’s favour.<\/p>\n

Kelly getting his hand raised was not controversial in itself.<\/p>\n

The consensus belief is that the 31-year-old did enough to edge it.<\/p>\n

READ MORE ON BOXING Deontay Wilder rages at Simon Jordan and storms off mid-interview<\/p>\n

However, Gray’s scoring of the 12th and final round caused a stir.<\/p>\n

The experienced official submitted a highly unusual 10-10 scorecard, which is frowned upon and generally advised against. <\/p>\n

Especially in a high-stakes world title fight.<\/p>\n

Had Gray scored the round 10-9 for Murtazaliev, then the contest would have been declared a draw, and the Russian would have retained the red and gold strap.<\/p>\n

Murtazaliev’s Attorney Patrick English, has subsequently submitted an appeal to the IBF on his behalf for an immediate rematch, arguing that his client was the rightful winner of the 12th stanza<\/p>\n

\u201cWe ask that you do so here,\u201d English wrote in the letter.<\/p>\n

\"Here<\/a><\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

Here are the scorecards from the three judges sitting ringsideCredit: BoxRec\"Kelly<\/a><\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

Kelly beat Murtazaliev via majority decisionCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

\u201cWe attend judges\u2019 training sessions regularly, including those of the IBF. <\/p>\n

“We cannot recall anywhere the issue of a 10-10 round did not come up.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn every one \u2026 judges are taught that 10-10 rounds should be utilised only in the rarest of circumstances, such as where a bout is stopped when there has been no action in a round. <\/p>\n

“They are taught that where there is any action, the judge is to carefully gauge that action, and there is always something which sets one fighter above the other.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe ask that the president and championship chair of the IBF exercise their discretion under Rule 5.K and order a rematch.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rule 5.K states that, “The Championships Chairman and the President, in their discretion, may direct two contestants to engage in a rematch for the Championship within a prescribed time.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Josh Kelly may be forced to run back his victory over Bakhram Murtazaliev. The Tyne and Wear technician…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":745899,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4108],"tags":[98182,1935,4496,16528,30592,4494,8639,33078,79,16,15],"class_list":["post-745898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-bakhram-murtazaliev","tag-boxing","tag-boxing-news","tag-ibf","tag-josh-kelly","tag-rematch","tag-result","tag-scorecards","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116022883550356284","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/745898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=745898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/745898\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/745899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=745898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=745898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=745898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}