{"id":195357,"date":"2025-10-12T17:29:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-12T17:29:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/195357\/"},"modified":"2025-10-12T17:29:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-12T17:29:13","slug":"needs-investigating-boxing-fans-fume-at-judges-scorecards-as-fighter-denied-upset-on-dave-allen-undercard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/195357\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Needs investigating&#8217; &#8211; Boxing fans fume at judges&#8217; scorecards as fighter denied upset on Dave Allen undercard"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The boxing world was left furious after the scorecards for Josh Padley vs Reece Bellotti were announced.<\/p>\n<p>Padley and Bellotti were meeting in a huge clash on the undercard of the battle of the giants between <a href=\"https:\/\/talksport.com\/boxing\/3617792\/dave-allen-vs-arslanbek-makhmudov-live-commentary-stream-time-undercard\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dave Allen and Arslanbek Makhmudov<\/a> in Sheffield.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Padley beat Bellotti - but fans were far from convinced by the judges' scorecards\" height=\"840\" width=\"960\" data-credit=\"Getty\" data-img=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/black-shorts-wins-wba-international-1030488109.jpg\" data-caption=\"Padley beat Bellotti - but fans were far from convinced by the judges' scorecards\"   loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/black-shorts-wins-wba-international-1030488109.jpg\" role=\"img\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>3<\/p>\n<p>Padley beat Bellotti &#8211; but fans were far from convinced by the judges&#8217; scorecardsCredit: Getty<\/p>\n<p>The former was a 3\/1 favourite to pick up a second consecutive victory, as he looked to continue his bounce back from his first career <a href=\"https:\/\/talksport.com\/boxing\/2953985\/shakur-stevenson-josh-padley-rocky\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">defeat to elite operator Shakur Stevenson<\/a> in February.<\/p>\n<p>But he struggled against a resurgent Bellotti who was gunning to prove he was still capable at this level after defeat to Ryan Garner last time out.<\/p>\n<p>It was a razor close bout which could barely be separated with Bellotti in the eyes of most doing enough to taste a shock victory.<\/p>\n<p>But it was Padley who secured the win, albeit by a surprisingly seismic margin.<\/p>\n<p>They read unanimously at 99-92, 97-93 and 97-93 in his favour, and it was a huge surprise to not see Bellotti&#8217;s hard work rewarded.<\/p>\n<p>The scorecards suggested it was a dominant victory for Padley, and the boxing world were not on board.<\/p>\n<p>talkSPORT&#8217;s Adam Catterall reacted: &#8220;99-92, what was that?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>And Gareth A Davies who sat alongside him added: &#8220;It was much closer than that.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>But the outrage spread like wildfire online as boxing fans came out in their droves to criticise the officiating from the judges.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;What was that judging, that was an absolute disgrace,&#8221; one wrote.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Padley was left joyous after getting the job done but it was Bellotti dejected after such a bright start\" height=\"652\" width=\"960\" data-credit=\"Getty\" data-img=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/black-shorts-wins-wba-international-1030488061.jpg\" data-caption=\"Padley was left joyous after getting the job done but it was Bellotti dejected after such a bright start\"   loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/black-shorts-wins-wba-international-1030488061.jpg\" role=\"img\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>3<\/p>\n<p>Padley was left joyous after getting the job done but it was Bellotti dejected after such a bright startCredit: Getty<\/p>\n<p>Another added: &#8220;This is genuinely disgusting. How on earth have they suggested Padley won that many rounds clearly?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>A fan continued: &#8220;Were they even watching? That is abysmal.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>And a final viewer concluded: &#8220;Disgusting scorecard, 99-92 that judge needs investigating.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>What happened during Padley vs Bellotti?<\/p>\n<p>Padley was looking to cement his name at British level with a victory over Bellotti, who many believed was now in his twilight period.<\/p>\n<p>But it was the experienced &#8216;Bomber&#8217; who took to the big stage like a duck to water, with Padley showing little in return.<\/p>\n<p>Bellotti was able to take the sting out of Padley early on, ripping some huge shots to the body which slowed down the eventual victor.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Bellotti was in the ascendency until the midway point but Padley clawed his way back into the bout\" height=\"763\" width=\"960\" data-credit=\"Getty\" data-img=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/black-shorts-reece-bellotti-blue-1030488079.jpg\" data-caption=\"Bellotti was in the ascendency until the midway point but Padley clawed his way back into the bout\"   loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/black-shorts-reece-bellotti-blue-1030488079.jpg\" role=\"img\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>3<\/p>\n<p>Bellotti was in the ascendency until the midway point but Padley clawed his way back into the boutCredit: Getty<\/p>\n<p>Although after the midway point, Padley finally got his hands and feet going but to many, the Doncaster native was massively down on the scorecards.<\/p>\n<p>He came into the second half of the fight with a second wind, and was just doing enough to edge the rounds, wrestling back momentum of the contest.<\/p>\n<p>As the final bell sounded and the bout went to the distance, it was expected the margins would be tight.<\/p>\n<p>But it was Padley who took a wide decision, with Bellotti forced to do nothing but shake his head in anguish.<\/p>\n<p>Decisions like this shape a fighters&#8217; career and the Watford veteran will feel very aggrieved, but he will hope he has done enough to earn further opportunities in the division.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The boxing world was left furious after the scorecards for Josh Padley vs Reece Bellotti were announced. Padley&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":195358,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,6102,6100,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-195357","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-boxing-news","10":"tag-manny-pacquiao","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195357\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}