Patera's Victory Over Tatli Causes Outrage

"What a farce!" – Francesco Patera’s split decision victory over Edis Tatli causes outrage

"Those judges must have watched a different fight than I was", commented a Finnish boxing journalist Mikko Marttinen on his

Patera won the title from Edis Tatli in Turku, Finland by a split decision, but Marttinen – with many others – thought that it was Tatli who won the fight clearly.

Tatli’s team and the Finnish press were dumbfounded by the decision. "What a farce", wrote Finnish tabloid newspaper Iltalehti. "An incomprehensible decision", wrote the multimedia company MTV. "A robbery", wrote Sportti.com.

Tatli himself was shocked as Patera was named as the winner.

"He didn’t hit me with any decent shots. I scored all the hard punches of the fight," said Tatli after the bout.

"I was already surprised when I heard that they had a split decision. I thought I had won by a wide margin. When they gave it to the other guy, I was just stunned."

Tatli’s coach and manager Pekka Mäki was equally angry about the verdict.

"It seems that some judges think that it counts as scoring if you hit the opponents gloves," said Mäki.

"This will not end here. I’m going to have a talk with the supervisors. There’s something weird going on here."

Tatli declared that he’s ready for a rematch as soon as possible.

"I’m still the champion, as far as I’m concerned," said Tatli.