Tuesday 30 September 2014 06:56, UK
Paul Smith has demanded an immediate rematch with Arthur Abraham after Saturday's controversial points defeat in Germany.
The Liverpudlian was bidding to relieve Abraham of his WBO super-middleweight title and put up a performance to be proud of before the judges handed over a wide points decision to the home fighter - leaving the Smith camp and thousands of travelling fans furious.
Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn was quick to mention a potential rematch in Liverpool and Smith revealed he shook hands with the Armenian-born veteran on a second bout during the post-fight press conference.
Speaking exclusively to Sky Sports News HQ, the 31-year-old said: "At the end of the day, I got out of the ring and I believe I won the fight. After the bell, my coach picked me up and I'm celebrating. Anyone who knows me knows I don't do that if I don't believe I won the fight.
"I was asking people in the ring 'do you think I've got that?' and all along the Germans must have been looking at me thinking I was round the bend because the scores were so wide.
"It's just one of those things. The scoring was shocking but I just have to get on with it. It still hurts. It's still a loss but hopefully we can get the rematch.
"I honestly don't believe there's anything that can be done to change it. What can be done is to avoid employing bad judges. If you judge a fight that badly then there's got to be some disciplinary decisions made by the sanctioning bodies to get rid of the judges.
"Boxing's an opinionated sport. That's what it's always been with judges. It's not like computerised scoring in the amateurs. It's never really going to work and there are always going to be opinions in professional boxing.
"The best outcome for me is for the WBO to watch the fight, sort the judges out, get three neutral and competent judges in, make me mandatory challenger and put the fight up for purse bids. Let's do it again and have an immediate rematch.
"He'll know in his head that he lost that fight and will he want to fight me again after that? I was meant to be a nice routine defence for him and I knew I wasn't. Everything I said I'd do before the fight I did it and I believe I should be sitting here with a world title.
"I spoke to Arthur in the press conference after the fight and I spoke to the promoter Kalle Sauerland. A translator said that Arthur said he'd fight me any time, so I leaned over and I said 'fight me next. Give me a rematch' and I put my hand out and he shook my hand.
"It's certainly not a contract but it's a gentleman's agreement. If he believes he'll fight me again, do it next - financially it'll make sense for him. He earned a lot of money fighting me and he'll earn even more this time. There's demand for a rematch now.
"I don't mind going back to Germany as long as the judging is rectified."
A tweet from the WBO read: "The WBO is waiting to receive the assigned supervisor's report and replaying the fight before giving an opinion on AbrahamSmith."
