A ring announcer’s error following a women’s bantamweight championship in Perth, Australia, on Sunday stunned the boxing world as reigning champion Nina Hughes seemingly reclaimed her title then lost it in a matter of seconds.
Hughes was initially announced as the winner over Cherneka Johnson, but her fist-pumping celebration was cut short when the referee brought both women back to the center of the ring. The announcer, Daniel Hennessey, then correctly re-read the results, which placed the Australian fighter Johnson (16-2) on top with a majority decision. Two judges had her winning, 98-92 and 96-94, and the third judge called the bout a draw.
The ring announcer declares the wrong winner in Perth then corrects it 😳 pic.twitter.com/ze9Wxt6JaU
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) May 12, 2024
Johnson said she had mixed emotions about the way the decision was read, but said she deserved to be champion.
“I was pretty disappointed when my name wasn’t called. I was pretty confident that I had won that fight,” Johnson said, adding: “I felt the ref sort of grab my hand, but my hand didn’t get raised. When they came back and they said that they had announced the wrong name, it was like, ‘This is my moment. That was my moment to shine.'”
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Hughes (6-1) wrote in a post on her Instagram story: “To say I am gutted to be done over dirty like this is an understatement.”
The English boxer also expressed confusion over the result during a post-match news conference, saying she thought she won the early rounds while feeling like Johnson took a few later in the bout.
“I’ve got no words, really,” She said. “As soon as they called me back, I thought, ‘What’s going on?’ When they started announcing scores again, I thought, ‘They’re taking this away from me. I just know it.'”
Hughes’ trainer Kevin Lilley called the result “bulls—.”
“That girl’s been blatantly robbed tonight, and to do it like that,” Lilley said. “We said it from day one. This was the problem with coming to Australia. You’re killing Australian boxing by doing things like this. It was all set up for Cherneka.”
The commentators Joe Tessitore and Timothy Bradley were shocked by the ring announcer’s mistake.
“Is this guy for real?” Tessitore said during the broadcast.
The mixup quickly drew comparisons to Steve Harvey crowning the wrong winner at the Miss Universe pageant in 2015, which saw Miss Colombia crowned before Harvey interrupted her victory lap to announce Miss Philippines as the correct winner, and the infamous 2017 Oscars error that ended with “Moonlight” as the rightful winner of Best Picture instead of “La La Land.”
Hughes and her trainer called for a rematch and said they would protest the result. Johnson acknowledged the bad position for Hughes, but said that Hennessey’s mistake did not undercut her victory.
“I do feel for her, but for me, I believe I won that fight,” Johnson said.
(Photo of Nina Hughes: James Chance / Getty Images)