Belfast's Ryan Burnett (17-0) was crowned the new IBF World bantamweight champion after flooring Lee Haskins (34-4) twice in a hugely impressive points victory in his hometown in Northern Ireland.
The 25-year-old decked Haskins in the sixth and 11th rounds in what was a dominant performance from the talented youngster. There was a moment of confusion as the scorecards were announced as a split decison with one ringside judge bizarrely scoring the fight at 118-108 in favour of the Bristol fighter when it was clearly the other way around! Fortunately, the other two officials rightly judged it in convincing totals of 119-107 for Burnett at the packed Odyssey Arena.
Burnett boxed clever to dart in and out of range in the opening round, landing consistently crisp trademark right hands to quickly gain the respect of his 33-year-old counterpart.
An unfortunate head clash left both boxers cut in the second round, with Burnett's wound looking worryingly more severe, but he continued to enjoy success. After being bundled over at the midway mark by Haskins, he got on the front foot and looked to get revenge for the knockdown.
Clever feints and quick feet from Burnett were drawing mistakes from the older, more experienced Haskins, who was tagged by further punches in the third and ended the round with another cut by his eye.
Burnett retained his composure, despite frequent head clashes, and broke through the defences of Haskins in the sixth with a right hand that snapped back the head of Haskins, followed up with a right hook, forcing his dazed opponent to take a knee.
Haskins held off the home favourite for the remainder of that round, but continued to be punished by right hands and was bruised and bloodied at the end of the eighth.
With victory in sight, Burnett searched for a late stoppage and wobbled Haskins with another blisteringly fast right hand in the 10th.
Haskins was bundled to the canvas after a flurry of punches in the 11th and sagged wearily on the ropes in the closing seconds, looking close to defeat.
Burnett could not find the finishing punch to end the fight, but the hometown crowd roared their approval as the final bell signalled the end of a dominant, entertaining, classy victory.
The talented 25-year-old deservedly lifted the IBF belt, despite the American judge's farcical mistake, and remains unbeaten in all contests.
Promoter Eddie Hearn has since revealed that the elderly judge had mixed up the fighters and the SD will likely be revoked and turned to UD in the next few days, he said, "Apparently the judge asked one of the photographers, 'Which one's Lee Haskins?' and the photographer said 'In the red corner'. I think he asked him a couple of times, and I presume he thought, 'The red shorts'.
"He scored two 10-8 rounds to Haskins! His scorecard was excellent, it was just the wrong way around. He's 80-odd; I've never seen anything like it."