Welsh boxer Ashley Brace defeat reversed to draw in bizarre scoring error
Unbeaten Ebbw Vale resident Ashley 'The Storm' Brace (7-0-1, 3KO) was initially handed her first defeat to Spain’s Melania Sorroche (13-2-2, 2KO) on Friday 15th December when the scorecards were read aloud, but a recount revealed an incorrect result, reversing the decision to a draw.
The confusing conclusion came on a Sanigar Events eight-fight Friday night card at the Rhydycar Leisure Centre in Merthyr Tydfil on the #UpForGrabs show.
Referee Leszek Jankowiak scored the 10-round EBU Female bantamweight championship contest at 96-95 to Sorroche; ringside judge Grzegorz Molenda favoured Brace by a 97-93 score; but Beat Hausammann had the away fighter edging it at 96-94, resulting in an unexpected win for the Spaniard.
However, a recount revealed there was a miscount and the 96-95 scoring was recalculated at 95-95, changing the outcome to a stalemate.
The unsettled WBC International Female bantamweight champion kept her unbeaten record but failed to bag the European title she hoped would be a further step towards world honours.
The 27-year-old Catalan, nicknamed 'Chony', was forced to return to Spain with nothing, despite thinking she had won, momentarily. The no.1 bantamweight in her native country has now not won any of her three championship contests for the WBA world; IBF Inter-Continental; and now EBU titles, respectively.
Hard-hitting Brace, who trains at St Joseph's gym in Newport, had never lost a single round in her professional career until this contest.
She made history in her sixth contest in April this year when she became the first female boxer from Wales to ever win a professional title and could have made history again in the same year if she had become the first British female to win the European Boxing Union belt.
The 26-year-old wants the rematch early next year.
2017-12-15, Merthyr Leisure Centre, Merthyr Tydfil | ||||||
Ashley Brace | D | SD | 10/10 | Melania Sorroche | ||
Nathan Thorley | W | TCO | 2/10 | Jermaine Asare | ||
Gavin Gwynne | W | PTS | 10/10 | Henry Janes | ||
Fred Evans | W | PTS | 6/6 | Adam Jones | ||
Lee Haskins | W | PTS | 6/6 | Isaac Quaye | ||
Daniel Barton | W | TCO | 3/4 | Nathan Halton | ||
Kristian Touze | W | PTS | 4/4 | Jamie Quinn | ||
Jacob Robinson | W | KO | 3/4 | Dmitrijs Gutmans |