Vasyl Lomachenko has admitted that he did not make a great effort to win the final round in his defeat to Devin Haney.
The former pound-for-pound king lost a debatable unanimous decision to the young American undisputed lightweight world champion on Saturday night.
Some fans have claimed the result is a 'robbery', while others insist it was a close contest that could've gone either way.
Regardless, Loma's decision to coast through round 12 because he thought he was already far enough ahead to guarantee victory turned out to be costly.
The judges' scorecards read 116-112, 115-113, 115-113 in favour of Haney.
Had Lomachenko won round 12, they would have read 115-113, 114-114, 114-114 - a majority draw.
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The champion would have still retained his titles, but the challenger would not have lost the fight.
Lomachenko said at the post-fight press conference: "After every round when I came back in the corner I understand, 'Okay, it's my round, it's my round.'
"When we're going into the 12th round, I understand, 'Okay, maybe I need to use a little bit defence and I can give him this round.'
"I don't need to win this round because I was winning another 11 rounds it looks like.
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"I don't say every round, but during the 11 rounds, I understand it was my score.
"I don't know, maybe I don't understand boxing."
Vasyl Lomachenko admits he took the final round off in his defeat to Devin Haney because he felt he'd already done enough to win the fight comfortably…
[🎥 @TRBoxing] pic.twitter.com/rSmNHk4EDE
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) May 21, 2023One fan reacted: "Rookie mistake."
A second wrote: "I don’t get why boxers do this, considering it was a close fight this is the last thing that Loma should’ve done."
A third said: "What kind of statement is this? You play till the bell rings. Don’t quit on yourself. Don’t leave it up to the judges."
And another put: "Bruh that’s the most rookie move a vet could do."
However, one fan insisted: "He did do enough lol, he got robbed just like GGG vs Canelo I."
And another said: "Robbery either way."
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