SUNDAY night saw Ben Whittaker right the wrongs of his first encounter with Liam Cameron by scoring a statement second-round win in their rematch. The pair topped a card littered with local talent in Birmingham.
One of those local fighters donning the bill, was Smethwick-born Sam Eggington, 36-9 (20 KOs), who pulled off the upset to defeat Lee Cutler, 15-2 (7 KOs), via technical decision. Eggington won the WBC International Silver super-welterweight title for his efforts. However, in the days that followed, Cutler and his team decided to appeal the fight’s result.
Often regarded as a bruising, brawling, rough and rugged fighter, Eggington showed glimpses of his often-overlooked boxing skills to score regularly enough with a strong jab in what was a scrappy but all-action affair nonetheless.
Yet, a cut to Eggington, which was deemed to have been caused by a head clash in the second round, began to worsen throughout the contest. After taking advice from the doctors, the fight was brought to a close after eight and a half rounds, meaning it went to the scorecards.
Although Cutler was beginning to grow into the fight, it was the earlier work from Eggington that proved decisive, with the much-loved domestic veteran walking away with a unanimous decision, that one judge had even scored as a whitewash (87-85, 87-85 and 90-83).
Now, it has been revealed that Cutler’s manager, Jake McGuigan, has been in contact with WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman and has lodged an appeal to the fight result, believing that the punch was caused by a punch rather than an accidental coming together of heads.
“The WBC has received an official appeal from Jake McGuigan with regards to the WBC International Title contest in Birmingham, which was aired by Sky Sports Boxing.
“Lee Cutler lost his title by technical decision due to Eggington’s cut and the referee ruling an accidental headbutt.
“This video clearly shows this cut [was caused] by legal punch. Instant replay is not allowed in UK, WBC will review all matters through the corresponding panel.”
Speaking with Boxing News in response to the claim, Eggington maintained that Cutler was consistently using his head throughout the bout, which he believes caused the initial cut or at least significantly worsened it, joking that ‘it was like boxing Zinedine Zidane in there!’.
“I’ve had six stitches over each eye, whether one was started by a cut makes no difference because it was 100per cent made worse by headbutts. The other eye was [caused by] headbutts only, in that case where is his argument?”
“I’ve never moaned about anything in this game; win, lose, or draw, but if I was made to rematch someone for the reasons that he has put forward then I would refuse.
“He is 100 per cent trying to find a loophole, he was on a bit of a wave after his last win and now he is back at square one. Some of us dust ourselves off and get back to work and some of us are little b***hes that try and find a loophole to get back to where they were.”
For now, Eggington and Cutler await a decision from the WBC, where any change in the outcome of the fight or order for a rematch is sure to cause a stir.
Watch Eubank Jr vs Benn on Saturday 26th April live on DAZN, the global home of boxing with over 185+ fights per year.
