By Terence Dooley

Swindon’s Jamie Cox (25-2, 14 KOs) was swept aside by a resurgent John Ryder (26-4, 14 early) in two at London’s O2 Arena last Saturday night yet his camp are holding on to the hope that they can lodge an appeal and have the decision reversed after arguing that referee Ian John Lewis fudged the count.

While agreeing that his man was too gung-ho too early in the fight John Costello, Cox’s trainer, hopes to be given the go-ahead for a rematch and could ask the Board to have another look at the actions of the third man.

“Jamie shouldn't have got caught with the shot that he got caught with, he was very careless and he shouldn't have pressed as soon as he did,” he said when speaking to Matthew Davies of the Swindon Advertiser.  “He knows that.”

He added: “Jamie got up at nine, the referee wasn't even counting.  If the referee hasn't given Jamie the full count, then we will be asking for a rematch.  I need to view it first.  Paulie Malignaggi, who was doing the commentary, pulled me over after the fight and said that Jamie didn't get a 10-count.  That is not John Ryder's fault and good luck to the kid.  Having said that, it is about doing the right thing and if he wasn't given the chance to get to his feet then we will lodge an appeal.  Before we do that though, I need to have a good look at the footage and make sure if we do lodge an appeal, it is a justified one.”

Sadly for Cox, there seems to little ground for an appeal as per BBBoC Rule 3.32—‘a boxer is deemed to be ‘down’ by one of four criteria, one of which is ‘when the boxer is in the act of rising’,—so it is likely it will be argued that he was ‘counted out in the act of rising’, which means that the count was dispensed at nine as he had mistimed it.  If this is the case, the onus will be placed back on him and his corner to disprove this should they indeed lodge an appeal.

BBBoC guidelines suggest that in order to prevent the referee from having to make a decision a fighter should be up by the time he gets to eight.  Get up after this and you run the risk of missing the count by a single second as British refs dispense with the count once 9 is reached rather than going for “10 and out”.

Either way, if Ian John Lewis maintains that he felt Cox was not erect and in a position to continue it is highly likely that the Board will abide by his decision and turn down an appeal and the 31-year-old will have to explore other options following his second loss (he was knocked out in two by George Groves in the WBSS 168lb semi-final in October).

Please send news and views to @Terryboxing.