A controversial stoppage in a national title fight that left Ben Dencio's camp "horrified" has Australian boxing chiefs caught in the crosshairs.
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Capital Fight Show promoter Nick Boutzos is pushing for the Australian National Boxing Federation to overturn the result and schedule an immediate rematch between Dencio and new champion TC Priestley.
Dencio led 58-56 on two scorecards, while the third judge scored the bout 57-57, heading into the seventh of 10 scheduled rounds.
Priestley had Dencio against the ropes before referee Pat O'Connor waved it off 2:05 into the seventh round - however Boutzos maintains not one blow from the fateful final barrage actually landed.
Now he is pushing to host a rematch between the pair at Capital Fight Show 17 on September 6.
"We have put in an official appeal to the ANBF for Ben Dencio's team. We have two angles of camera footage showing that not a punch landed in the last exchange that stopped the fight," Boutzos said.
"Ben Dencio was winning on two cards by two rounds, and on the third card it was a draw. With all that, I would like the ANBF to right the wrong, and overturn the decision and make an automatic rematch for the prestigious Australian title which Ben Dencio was robbed of on the night.
"Both boys were robbed of a fair decision at the end of the fight. The fight was stopped prematurely and both boys were robbed of an epic Australian title fight.
"We feel it should be rematched automatically, it shouldn't be a loss for Ben Dencio. We want the boys to fight it out again and let the winner take the prestigious Australian title."
The ANBF has been contact for comment.
Dencio's coach Quinten Brown says he was "horrified" to see the fight stopped.
"Firstly, it was a very short exchange, and I saw no punches landing from my angle and it was literally right next to me. I thought maybe the referee had seen something I hadn't seen, but Ben came back to the corner and he was clearly upset," Brown said.
"Ben being Ben, he's not the sort of person that will scream out when is hard done by, he is quite reserved.
"The second issue was the referee had made a clear point before the fight, because there was no standing eight count, if you hurt your opponent to continue on and make sure they were clearly down because he won't be stopping the fight.
"I was even more pissed off watching the video. I haven't been involved in such a shit stoppage in my life, it was terrible."
The match was originally scheduled to be a defence of Dencio's ANBF NSW super featherweight championship but it was upgraded after Liam Wilson was stripped of the Australian crown.
Dencio and Priestley put on a show fit for the billing, and the former is desperate to run it back.
"I'd be keen for a rematch. I'll have a chat to Nick and see what he wants to do, but either in September or the [show] after," Dencio said.
"Priestley deserves all the credit, but the fight shouldn't have been finished like that. It deserved to go to the end.
"I didn't get hurt by any of the punches before the ref stopped it, and I was pretty surprised by him stopping it. A lot of people that know me asked me why he stopped it when he did."