Ronnie Shields, trainer for former world champion Erislandy Lara, was not happy with the scoring of Saturday's fight at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
In a high stakes unification for the IBF, WBA, IBO junior middleweight titles, Jarrett Hurd used a 12th-round knockdown to secure a split-decision victory over Lara to unify the three sanctioning belts.
The scoring was razor close, as two judges scored the fight 114-113 for Hurd, while the third judge had Lara winning the fight by the same 114-113 scorecard.
Hurd connected on a short left hook with less than a minute remaining, knocking down former WBA, IBO champion Lara (25-3-2, 14 KOs), the longest reigning champion at 154 pounds entering the fight. Lara was attempting to defend his title for the sixth consecutive time.
The win for Hurd (21-0, 15 KOs) sets up a potential mega-matchup against Jermell Charlo, who has held the WBC light middleweight world title since 2016.
Hurd is the seventh unified world title holder in 154-pound history, joining Hall of Famers Terry Norris, Felix Trinidad, Oscar De La Hoya and Winky Wright, as well as Floyd Mayweather and Canelo Alvarez.
The 34-year-old Lara from Houston thought he won the fight, despite the knockdown in the final round.
"I was up by a large margin going into the last round," said Lara, who suffered swelling and a cut around his right eye. "The problem was the cut on the eye. I couldn't see in the last round."
Shields agrees with his fighter and believes the judges once again got it wrong. The veteran trainer felt the judges were not on Lara's side when he fought in Las Vegas in the past - losing a close split decision to Canelo Alvarez in 2014, and also when he was handed a controversial draw with Carlos Molina a few years earlier.
"Every time he fights in Vegas they screw him. It ain't right. The man cannot catch a break. Hurd is a good fighter. We've been saying that from the beginning," Shields said.
"They claimed Lara was going to run and he stood there and fought toe-to-toe. He stood there and still didn't get the decision."