Johnny Nelson believes that Paul Smith won his fight against Arthur Abraham

I really felt for Paul Smith after his loss to Arthur Abraham on Saturday night. He boxed so well and I admit that his performance really surprised me. I know Abraham and I could just not see how Smith was going to beat him.

For Smith to win this fight he had to box to the very best of his ability; he had no room for any mistakes or errors and no room for any regrets. And you know what, that is what he did. He did not do anything wrong and in a fair world he should have got the draw if not a win by one round!

I do think he was robbed; in my book he won that. I scored it 117 to 116 in favour of Smith. It’s subjective of course, but at least he deserved the draw, and the scoring that came out was an absolute joke! To have 117-111 on two of the cards is bad enough but 119-109 is just ridiculous.

Ridiculous scoring like this will happen less and less if they judges know they are going to have to explain themselves instead of hiding behind the hierarchy of the different boxing associations.

I know there was talk from Martin Murray and Nathan Cleverly in the studio about the judges perhaps thinking that some of those body shots from Smith only hit Abraham on the arms, and a lot of them did – but not all of them! A heck of a lot of them got through and should have counted.

Boxing really shoots itself in the foot when scoring like this happens. It was absolutely ridiculous and the judges need to be sat down and taken to task. Who is going to govern the governors? The only people who are going to govern this are themselves – and with what, an internal inquiry? That means jack diddly.

They need an external inquiry where they are sat down and have to take the inquiry through each round and explain why they scored it the way they did. Ridiculous scoring like this will happen less and less if they judges know they are going to have to explain themselves instead of hiding behind the hierarchy of the different boxing associations.

Next up for Smith?

Losing in such an honourable way is no consolation for Paul Smith and I hope to see him back in action soon. I don’t think Abraham will agree to a rematch so where does he go from here?

There is Carl Froch there as well as his old foes James DeGale and George Groves who are both on the cusp of fighting for world titles themselves.

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I personally think that Smith is stronger and better at middleweight rather than super middleweight – his advantage at that weight is that he has the speed of a middleweight but he does not have the power of a super-middleweight. However, saying that, Saturday night was a massive opportunity for Smith and one that he grasped with both hands and he boxed his heart out.

To lose in the manner that he did does not give him or his performance the respect it deserves.