Boxing: Defeat so hard to take

Alldis left the ring almost in tears as Mullings slipped into the night with the British super-bantamweight crown in his bag.

Victory for the Crawley fighter against his old adversary would have given Alldis the Lonsdale belt to keep after successful defences against Shaun Anderson and Drew Docherty. Instead, he was left to contemplate a defeat he felt he did not deserve.

Mullings took the decision from international referee Larry O'Connell 115-114, a docked point for Alldis for a low punch in the final round proving decisive.

On my card, Alldis should have taken the verdict by a point, even taking the disputed one point deduction into account.

Alldis, 33, agreed: "Personally I thought I won the fight and everyone I have spoken to so far thought I won it.

"Apparently they told him in the last round he had got to go out and knock me out. How the referee took a point off me in the last round is the hardest thing to take.

"I thought the referee should have jumped in anyway because Mullings was hurt. All right, he came back, but he took a lot of punches in that last round and I thought the referee should have stopped it.

"I gave the first four rounds away. I thought I would let Pat punch himself out. But I came back into it and from round five onwards I thought I won itconvincingly.

"I am disappointed because I thought I was robbed. I suppose I can look at it and hold my head up but it brings me to tears just thinking about it. I am a winner, I hate losing. But I have got to take that and come back a stronger person."

It will be little consolation to Alldis but this was a terrific fight.

There is plenty of history between the pair as Mullings beat Alldis to win the 1991 ABA bantamweight title and then Alldis beat Mullings on points to claim the vacant British super-bantamweight crown at Bethnal Green 20 months ago.

Having won his last seven fights, Alldis entered the ring with his trademark red and white striped shorts upgraded to a glitzy number with white tassles, as befitting a champion. But it was Mullings who made the sparking start.

The 31-year-old Harrow car dealer came out like a steam train, looking hungry if a little ragged. Alldis appeared a bit stiff early on and by the time he got into his stride Mullings had already built up an early lead.

By the fifth round Mullings was clearly ahead and you could hear Alldis's promoter, Barry Hearn, at ringside shouting: "Step it up, Michael".

He did just that, taking the next three rounds by which time cries of "Step it up, Pat" could be heard from the Mullings camp.

It was a bruising, sometimes brutal, contest with little respite as each boxer stood toe-to-toe trading punches.

Mullings was tiring and by the end of the fifth round cries of "Alldis, Alldis" by his supporters were drowning out a frenzied hall.

In the tenth, Alldis fell out of the ring in a bizarre moment and this gave Mullings, strong and resilient, hope again.

Alldis took the 11th round, with Mullings seemingly holding on for dear life. He claimed a low punch from Alldis but it appeared to be a ploy to buy himself some time. A second such move right at the end of the round was even less convincing. Little were we to know, though, how crucial that was to be.

Alldis had Mullings rocking at the start of the final round but he survived and then came the third call of low punch, which brought a one point deduction from O'Connell. Even so, the referee's decision for Mullings a minute or so later was met by bemused looks in many quarters.

It also brought immediate calls for a rematch. Alldis said: "I would push for a rematch tomorrow if I could.

"I was forced into fighting Patrick Mullings because there was nobody else in the top ten in this country I could fight. Patrick was the only person. So now, how can there be anyone else Pat can fight?

"He has got to fight me because there is nobody else. If the British Boxing Board sanction anyone else I will say, 'Why couldn't you sanction them for me?' So, I want an instant rematch.

"I think Patrick Mullings conned the referee into that point. I didn't think it was a low blow because he was pulling me down into it. I just felt I was cheated out of a British title.

"This was probably one of the fights of the year already. Age is nothing. I am 33 but so what? I fought like a 21-year-old and I will be back. There is plenty left for me yet."

His trainer Alex Gower said: "It was a tremendous fight. Micky was terrific as usual and he gave everybody an exciting time. He was very brave.

"Hopefully we will get a return. We gave Mullings this fight and he is entitled to reciprocate. I am sure Barry Hearn will get it sorted.

"If he hadn't had the point taken away he would have kept his British title and he was a hair's breadth away from having stopped Mullings at the start of the 12th round. Another punch or two and it might have been end of story.

"He is devastated because he was very proud of being British champion."

Mullings said: "It was a very hard fight, harder than I thought it would be. The first fight we had for the vacant title was a close fight. Rematches are always harder and I knew I had to work harder than in the first fight because now he was the champion. Give full credit where it's due. He did work hard and he did push me.

"I was never going to stop him. The only way I could beat him was either on points or by knocking him out but he took my best shots clean on the jaw and he was still there, so I had a good feeling it was going to go to points."

Prior to this contest Alldis had been pencilled in for a crack at Simon Ramoni's IBO world title in September. He may have lost his British crown but on this performance Alldis should not be discounted from such a showdown.