Brad Pauls (18-0-1, 10 KOs) produced a career-best showing against Nathan Heaney (18-0-1, 6 KOs) last weekend in Birmingham, challenging for the British middleweight title. However, his best efforts were not enough to return to his native Cornwall as a holder of the Lonsdale Belt.
The duo fought to a split draw with one scorecard of 114-114 alongside totals of 115-114 in favor of Pauls and 116-113 for Heaney. The contest was gritty, evenly fought, which was reflected in the judge’s score totals following the conclusion of 12 rounds.
The current English middleweight champion has since revealed his disappointment at not being declared the winner.
“I felt like I did enough to win,” Pauls said, on social media. “A few things could have been dealt with differently, which would have affected the result.”
Despite not criticizing the scorecards, Pauls believed he did not get any favors from the officials on the night and was heartbroken that the result was scored a draw.
“But you know, when you’re the away fighter, you’re not getting any favors, so that’s just how it goes in boxing sometimes.
“Even though I feel like I did enough to win, I don’t have the belt with me. I got a draw, which is heartbreaking.”
Paul’s comments contrasted with those of Frank Warren, who promotes Heaney. Warren believes the Stoke-on-Trent-based Heaney did enough to claim victory and disagreed with the draw.
“I thought he [Heaney] won the fight by a couple of rounds, but it was such a great fight between two extremely good competitors that I don’t want to criticize Brad because I couldn’t criticize him,” said Warren post-fight to the BBC.
Warren indicated his issue was with the judge, John Latham, who scored in favor of Pauls because the promoter felt his fighter had done enough.
“As far as fans were concerned, he was in the other guy’s backyard and he did a great job,” Warren added.
“I don’t know how one judge gave it to him, though, because he didn’t win the fight. He put in a brilliant performance and he obviously came to win. But I felt Nathan did enough to win by two to three rounds.”