Even the MTK commentator felt Carl McDonald did enough to beat Iain Butcher
Carl McDonald was denied a sensational shock victory last night by some questionable scoring.
The Jobstown super bantamweight took on three-time British title challenger Iain Butcher on just two days notice and looked to have claimed an amazing win only to be denied.
McDonald travelled to Glasgow for the six-round fight on the MTK Global card at the Emirates Arena where he was defeated 58-56 – although this doesn’t tell the full story.
‘The Cobra’ had Motherwell’s Butcher down in the opening seconds but this round would, somehow, be the only three minutes which referee Kenny Pringle felt McDonald won.
It was nip-and-tuck for the remaining five – with the second (to Butcher) and the third (to McDonald) being the only seemingly clear rounds.
McDonald would pepper Butcher from the outside as the Scot attempted to wade in a land big shots.
However, Pringle would award four of the remaining five stanzas to his fellow Lanarkshire man and deemed one round a draw.
The result did not go down well with the Dubliner’s team.
Carl Mcdonald. Fucking robbed. Joke shop.
— Siobhán O’ Leary (@Siobhan_OL) March 22, 2019
Carl McDonald was robbed in that fight lost by 2 rounds 😱 knockdown in 1st 10-8 to Carl your man comes forward with no real success Carl boxes well on back foot great counting shoots! I don’t know! Well done Carl 2 days notice 👏🏻👏🏻 @EdwardHyland81 @Irishboxingcom
— Patrick Hyland (@Pajpunisher) March 22, 2019
Ha. Joke shop. 58-56 to Butcher. So the ref didn’t give Carl a round except for the first. Barry Jones had McDonald winning. Say no more. 🙄😂
— BOXING IRELAND (@LoveIrishBoxing) March 22, 2019
The disagreement went beyond the Irishman’s team, however, with Barry Jones, the co-commentator for MTK Global shows, seeing a McDonald win.
Picking his winner, the Welsh former world champion said that “for me, I think that McDonald, with the knockdown and the couple of rounds where he was fighting back when Butcher was pushing the pace looking to put on the pressure but maybe not letting his hands go enough…”
“I think that maybe cost [Butcher] the fight.”
“That’s not to say McDonald wasn’t fantastic. He coped with the pressure of Butcher really well, as best as he could. He had a few rocky moments, obviously, when Butcher was letting his hands go but no-one looked in real trouble.
“The quality probably really came from Butcher but the quantity was from McDonald and, for me, I’ve got him winning the fight.”
“For me, I thought McDonald did just enough.”
