The scorecards were too wide, I think virtually everyone agrees with that assertion. After 12 hard-fought, quality rounds, Callum Smith retained his Super WBA super-middleweight title with a unanimous decision over John Ryder. That in itself was contentious but the cards – 117-111 and 116-112 twice – seemed hard to justify.
Ryder was inevitably downbeat at the post-fight press conference. The mandatory challenger had been written off in most quarters then, having produced the performance of his life, was denied the title John feels he deserves.
