By Scott Gilfoid: In a blatant robbery, former three time world time challenger Matthew Macklin (34-6, 22 KOs) won a controversial 10 round unanimous decision over domestic fighter Jason Welborn (17-4, 6 KOs) on Saturday night to win the vacant WBC International super welterweight title at the Barclaycard Arena in Birmingham, UK.

The final judges’ scores were 96-94, 96-94 and 97-93. I had Welborn winning the fight by a 6 rounds to 4 score.

The referee Victor Loughlin subtracted a point from Welborn in the 5th round for a low blow. Macklin really milked it after getting hit low. He was down on one knee for ages after that. What was interesting about the point deduction is it came during a time where Macklin was really getting worked over. I think it was a case of Macklin needing a breather from the beating he was taking. Later in the round, Welborn hit Macklin on the belt line, and Macklin once again dropped to one knee, as if it were a low blow. Instead of the referee doing the right thing in scoring it a knockdown, which it clearly was, he let Macklin get another breather while lecturing Welborn. It was pretty sad.

In the 10th round, Macklin needed another breather after a clash of heads. It didn’t look like a hard head-butt, but Macklin milked it for another minute.

Macklin twice lost his mouthpiece in the fight and wasn’t docked a point. On both occasions, Macklin was getting worked over by Welborn. It looked to me like Macklin needed to have a time out to stop the momentum of Welborn. I think Macklin couldn’t handle it and needed yet another time out to recover from the shots he was getting nailed with.

Macklin’s right eye was swollen from the heavy shots from Welborn.

“I was sitting on the ropes too long,” Macklin said after the fight in trying to explain why he looked so horrible.

I think Macklin is really kidding himself if he really thinks he’s going to win a world title. He was comparing himself to Andy Lee after the fight in justifying his poor performance. Believe me, there’s a world’s of difference between Lee and Macklin.

If Macklin couldn’t even beat a fighter in Welborn’s class, then I think it’s over with for Macklin. I suppose he’ll try and get a world title shot against WBO light middleweight champion Liam Smith, but I don’t think Macklin can beat him. This guy is too powerful for Macklin. As long as Smith let’s his hands go, he’ll beat Macklin.