At the end, though, two judges liked Ramirez via scores of 115-113. Only one score, 116-112 to Richards, seemed to tell the story of a fight that had been postponed at the 11th hour in February.

"What can I say - I am truly disappointed with the decision," Richards wrote on social media.

"After the fight was called off in February, and two back-to-back hard training camps and time away from my two beautiful sons and family, and the heavy financial commitments required to train for a world-level fight in Canada, I was absolutely shocked by the decision last night.

"I won that fight, and I am yet to speak to someone who doesn't agree. After the fight a lot of the crowd came up to me saying I won the fight.

"In the fight, I was in total control throughout, outboxing, out-landing and out-fighting my opponent, during the whole duration of the fight.

"I put everything into this performance and camp that preceded it and I am truly gutted to say the least to be coming home without the belt.

"I believe my performance showed that I belong at world level, and I feel I deserve a next opportunity to win a world title.

"I would like to say thank you to my team, as the training camps went perfectly, and I felt so confident and prepared for this fight.

"Onwards and upwards to the next opportunity: I proved I belong at this level and I will continue to work hard to become world champion again."