Ryan Burnett has become Ireland’s newest, and only current, world champion following a dominant win over reigning world champion Lee Haskins. The North Belfast bantamweight claimed the IBF bantamweight belt with a controlled, aggressive display against Haskins which saw him claim the 118lbs red belt by a wide margin. Name: Lee Haskins Alias: 'Playboy' Birth Name: Lee Anthony Haskins Born: 1983-01-29 Hometown: Bristol, Avon, United Kingdom Birthplace: Bristol, Avon, United Kingdom Stance: Southpaw Height: 165cm Reach: 168cm Pro Boxer: Record Trainer: Chris Sanigar Regional & Minor Titles. BBBofC English flyweight title; Commonwealth Boxing Council flyweight title; BBBofC British super flyweight title.

At the SSE Arena, Belfast, Ryan Burnett dominated reigning champion Lee Haskins to remain unbeaten and claim the IBF Bantamweight title. Burnett bagged a bizarre Split Decision (more on that below), taking the belt on two scores of 119-107, with Haskins taking a 118-108 tally. BB saw the action 119-107, Burnett.

The official verdict was highly controversial, although it’s very plausible that judge Clark Sammartino actually tallied matters correctly, with his major blunder being that he simply “ticked the wrong box”, as promoter Eddie Hearn also suspected post fight. We can now sit back and wait for the good people of the Twitterverse to go nuts.

Following this career-defining win, Burnett jumps to 17 wins, 9 knockouts, while Haskins falls to 34 wins, 4 defeats, 14 knockouts.

Amidst numerous head clashes – more owed to a clash of styles than foul play – Burnett conclusively bossed the action, scoring two knockdowns, both from rocket right hands, in the 6th and 11th stanzas. The quicker, technically superior Burnett, however, was unable to stop a tough, valiant Haskins, who fought on gamely despite suffering a possible right shoulder injury in the 6th.

Ryan Burnett now enters a deep Bantamweight scene, filled with plenty of stern tests and the unbeaten elite, Shinsuke Yamanaka, who leads the Top 10.

Haskins vs Burnett: Undercard

• Cruiserweight climber Luke Watkins (11-0, 7 KO) made quick work of challenger Ian Tims (13-4, 4 KO), bossing the action en route to a 4th round knockout.
• James Tennyson (19-2, 15 KO) continued his comeback with win number three, here retiring Ryan Doyle (14-2-1, 8 KO) in the 6th round. Tennyson, who was stopped by Ryan Walsh last April, continues on the Junior Lightweight trail.
• Lightweight startup Paul Hyland Jr (16-0, 6 KO) wasted no time against an overwhelmed Adam Dingsdale (16-4-1, 4 KO), ruthlessly wiping out his man in the opener to land the European belt.
• Mike Perez (22-2-1, 14 KO) ended a two-year layoff with a forgettable encounter against Viktor Biscak (10-1, 7 KO). Biscak retired himself from the Cruiserweight bout after being dropped shortly after the first bell. On the plus side, Perez, who was crushed by Alexander Povetkin in 2015, looks to be in fine shape physically, supposedly now rebuilt for what could be a promising run down at Cruiser.
• Feargal McCrory (6-0, 3 KO) added another win to his building Junior Lightweight campaign with a 2nd round stoppage of Paul Holt (6-5, 2 KO).
• Matthew Wilton (16-0, 3 KO) was unable to stop William Warburton (23-116-9, 4 KO), but had zero problems trumping the extremely well-travelled journeyman over six rounds. Scorecards for the Junior Middleweight encounter came in at 60-54.

Give us your take on Lee Haskins vs Ryan Burnett in the comments, plus the rest of the Belfast lineup.

By Elliot Foster

Undefeated Ryan Burnett (17-0, 9 KOs) became the newest champion in Belfast after scoring two knockdowns to win a twelve round split decision over Lee Haskins to capture the IBF bantamweight championship.

Burnett excelled as he became a world champion. The Belfast bantamweight outclassed outgoing king Haskins (34-4, 14 KOs), exclusively live on Sky Sports.

Burnett was cut a few times during the fight –– as was Haskins, who was down in round six and round 11 –– but he won’t worry about that as he was crowned the IBF champion on an inexplicable split decision.

The three scoring judges at ringside at the SSE Arena in Belfast turned in tallies of 119-107 twice to Burnett and the rather strange 118-108 card in favour of Haskins.

The card could only have been a mistake, but the right man –– who produced a performance of such class against a veteran champion in Haskins –– won in the end, thankfully.

Ryan Burnett Lee Haskins Cause Of Death

“I wasn’t worried about whether I was winning or not, I was just focusing on what I had to do,” Burnett told Sky Sports in the aftermath.

“Thanks to all the fans for coming out, I promised that I would be a world champion when I had an argument with my Dad at the age of 12 and tonight I did it.

“All credit to Haskins, he is an incredible fighter, but the best man won on the night.

“When I heard ‘split decision’, I thought: ‘Oh, God, they’re going to take it from me’, but thankfully the right man won.”

Promoter Eddie Hearn shed some light on the strange scorecard, saying that the scores had been put into the wrong box and that it should have been a unanimous decision.

ALSO ON THE CARD

Paul Hyland Jr. blitzed Adam Dingsdale inside a round to win a fringe belt.

The Belfast lightweight, who was last in action back in March, dropped his man twice, exclusively live on Sky Sports.

Hyland Jr., 26, is now 16-0 with six early after unleashing two barrages of shots which rocked the former Derry Mathews foe.

Dingsdale came in at short notice at the SSE Arena in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and he –– to his credit –– tried to hold on.

But it took just one minute and 49 seconds for ‘Hylo’ to pick up the vacant IBF European title and he will now be looking to push on to bigger and better things, eyeing the likes of the British and Commonwealth crowns which are held by Robbie Barrett and Sean Dodd respectively.

In defeat, Dingsdale slips to 16-4-1 with four early.

Ryan Burnett Lee Haskins Biography

Meanwhile, Sean McGoldrick extended his undefeated ledger with a scrappy six-round victory over Ricky Starkey, who was deducted two points during the fight, by 59 points to 54.

He is expected to return to the ring at some point in September in Wales.

Mike Perez returned from a two-year hiatus to get a quick-fire stoppage.

The Cuban former amateur star, who has put in some serious work to get down to cruiserweight, ousted Viktor Biscak after just 29 seconds.

Perez (22-2-1, 14 KOs) hasn’t been seen in a ring before this fight since being put away inside a round by Alexander Povetkin in a challenge for the WBC Silver heavyweight title.

Ryan Burnett Lee Haskins Net Worth

And in truth, we were never going to see much of him in this fight.

Ryan Burnett Lee Haskins Obituary

But Biscak, who was undefeated going into the fight, went down after a token right hook from Perez and was then clutching his ankle, leading to the referee waving the fight off.

The show’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, said that Perez will have to be active if he wants to be a force in the cruiserweight division and the plan is to box him either in Newcastle, at the Walker Activity Dome on June 23, or in London on July 1 at the O2 Arena.

Further details regarding Perez’s next fight will be revealed in due course.