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Nelson was hard done by, says Hill

(Photo by Mark Tatem)Wrong decision: Olympic bronze medallist Clarence Hill believes American Tori Nelson (right) should have been awarded a victory over Bermuda’s Teresa Perozzi (left) in their bout for the vacant WBC World Middleweight Championship at Berkeley Institute on Saturday night.

Tori Nelson was robbed of the vacant WBC world middleweight title during her championship bout with Teresa PerozziThat’s the opinion of former heavyweight boxer Clarence Hill who won the bronze medal for Bermuda at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal.Saturday’s ten round bout before a sell out crowd ended in a draw on Saturday night at Berkeley Institute.Judges Jack Woodburn (Canada) scored it 97-94 to Nelson, Julie Lederman (USA) saw it even at 95-95 while William Boodhoo (Canada) scored the bout 96-95 in Perozzi’s favour.However, Hall of Fame boxer Hill believes American Nelson won the fight outright.“I have nothing against Teresa and her and I are good friends as boxers, but I feel to myself she didn’t do enough to earn a draw and felt the American girl (Nelson) did enough to win,” he said.“I am a big fan of Teresa and I was hoping for her to win. But being honest and looking at the fight from ringside I thought the American girl won. I think the American girl did enough to win that fight. I don’t know who the judges are but they need to pay more attention to the fighters and what they are doing in the ring because Teresa didn’t do enough to earn a draw.“I just can’t see what fight they were looking at because the American girl did enough to be awarded the fight. I even think she did enough to be awarded the fight the first time they fought at Southampton Princess.”Perozzi and Nelson battled to a draw in a unification bout for the former’s WBA title and vacant WBC title at Fairmont Southampton last October to set the stage for last weekend’s rematch.Following her second draw with local southpaw Perozzi in nearly four months, the undefeated Nelson implied that the judges were biased towards the home fighter which drew a fierce rebuke from Bermuda Boxing Commission chairman Vic Richmond.Nelson has welcomed another rematch with Perozzi but only under condition the fight take place in the United States having been twice denied glory in two championship bouts here that she claims she won.Hill said he would feel the same way as Nelson if he were in her shoes.“I don’t blame her because I wouldn’t come here either knowing that you won the fight and they make it a hometown decision for a draw,” he said. “I would take it somewhere where nobody knows nobody and fight there.”Hill said the two draws between Perozzi and Nelson have been a major disappointment for fight fans.“I think that result has left a bad taste in people’s mouths,” he said. “I have heard people say they are fed up with going to fights and seeing a draw which should be a result.“I don’t know if they (organisers) are trying to accumulate a lot of money on these return matches, but people are getting tired of coming to fights and seeing how the judging goes on.”As for Perozzi’s own claims of victory in last weekend’s championship bout with Nelson, Hill said: “I would’ve said the same thing.“If I’m boxing in the ring and feel I did enough I’m also going to say I won.”