Gethin left in limbo after defeat
Walsall's Martin Gethin has no idea what will happen to his Commonwealth title shot as the reality of his shock defeat sets in.
The former English lightweight champion was stunned by Chris Long in a controversial points loss at the Holiday Inn in Birmingham.
Gethin's corner and the dinner audience alike were aghast when the opponents' hand was raised at the final bell by referee Sean Messer, with one point in it at 39-38.
With it came the 25-year-old's third straight loss and perhaps the most damaging, after narrow defeats in a defence of the English title against Scott Lawton and a British title eliminator against John Watson.
And it could cost him another title shot - Gethin had been lined up to face the winner of next month's vacant Commonwealth title fight between Lee McAllister and Godfred Sawah.
Now with a previously unblemished record tarnished even further, serious doubts are arising about his suitability as a challenger.
He said: "Hopefully it won't come to that, hopefully the people making the decisions will see that I was robbed.
"That referee has done things like this before, he's just ruined everything for me now."
Gethin spent most of the fight on the front foot, although he took a count in the last after what looked like a slip.
He was in charge at the final bell and was on the brink of forcing a stoppage in the dying seconds, after digging in a thumping right hand to the pit of his opponent's stomach that made him sag.
The referee would surely have stopped the fight had it carried on a few seconds more.
Gethin said: "It was bad, I battered him for four rounds. I went down because of a slip, if it would have had any effect on me I wouldn't have been able to rush him like I did at the end.
"I hit him in the body and he crunched up - any other referee would have stopped it right there.
"There's no way I should have lost that fight. I took it because I wanted a good test under my belt but I never thought it would end like that."
