Promising Ghanaian boxer Richard Commey missed out on a world title after he was defeated in a split decision by American Robert Easter Jnr on Saturday.

The bout for the vacant International Boxing Federation (IBF) lightweight title saw the judges score 115-112, 113-114 and 114-113 for the American, who had the partisan spectators rooting for him.

The defeat is Commey’s first while Easter Jnr extends his unbeaten record in 18 fights.

After the fight, Richard Commey nicknamed Azonto called for a rematch as “I feel like I won the fight”.

“I did everything that I could,” he said.

“I landed the more accurate shots. I come from very far and it’s hard to win here versus an American. I deserve a rematch.”

He said he felt glum about the scores especially when the American, 25, visited the canvas once.

“I was very devastated when I heard the scores. I knew it was a close fight. He went down and I didn’t.

“I want to be a world champion. Even if he doesn’t want to fight me, I want another opportunity. I can fight at the highest level in the world. We worked so hard to get to this stage. I want to stay at this level. I’ll keep improving.”

The winner conceded having a tough time in the ring with the 29-year-old Ghanaian.

“This fight wasn’t easy at all,” Easter admitted. “We knew it wasn’t going to be easy. Richard Commey is a tough, tough competitor. He made me fight each and every round, but we did it.”

He said the new world title will spur him on for more.

“… I want more straps. I want more belts. This is huge for my city. It means a lot. It’s bigger than me. I wanted to give them something to believe in.

“All this hard work we had to put in for this fight, we had to dig in deep. I did this for my city and Toledo came out for me tonight.”

Source: 3news.com|Ghana

Twitter: @3Newsgh