The general perception was that the knockdown Mickey Bey suffered in the 10th and final round ultimately cost him the fight versus George Kambosos.

As it turned out, there was never a path to victory for the former lightweight titlist, in the eyes of two judges.

Sydney, Australia’s Kambosos (18-0, 10KOs) survived a stiff test from his most seasoned opponent to date, overcoming a first half scorecard deficit to claim a split decision Saturday evening at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Judges Mark Consentino (New Jersey) and Pasquale Procopio (Canada via Italy) scored the bout 97-92 and 96-93, respectively, for Kambosos, while judge Bernard Bruni (Pennsylvania) turned in the dissenting card in favor of Bey (23-3-1, 11KOs), scoring the contest 95-94 for the former titlist from Cleveland, Ohio. 

As wide were the scores, the three judges were in full agreement on six of the 10 rounds. All three ringside officials had Kambosos sweeping rounds three, four six and 10, with the final round ruled 10-8 with the knockdown call, while agreeing across the board on rounds five and nine in favor of Bey.

None of the judges were more than three rounds apart from one another in terms of consensus scoring.

Consentino and Bruni were the widest apart in their official tallies, though only disagreeing on three rounds. Both scored rounds three, four, six, seven and 10 for Kambosos, while awarding Bey rounds five and nine. 

Round one saw Consentino on his own in awarding the frame to Kambosos, as was the case in round eight.

Bruni’s lone round where he in the minority came in round seven, which he scored for Bey. Consentino and Procopio both awarded it to Kambosos, putting the fight out of reach for Bey with three rounds to go on their respective cards.

Bruni and Procopio only disagreed twice on the night—rounds two and seven. Both frames went to Bey on Bruni’s card and Kambosos on the card of Procopio. The two agreed in awarding rounds one, five eight and nine for Bey, and rounds three, four, six, seven and 10 to Kambosos.

Had Bey remained upright in the 10th and final round and won the frame on Procopio’s card, he’d have escaped with a majority draw. Instead, he leaves New York City with his second loss in his last three fight, spray painted over a 42-month stretch. Bey came up short in a failed bid to regain his lightweight title versus Rances Barthelemy in their June 2016 clash, which also ended in split decision. Similarly, he won the tile in a Sept. 2014 split nod over Miguel Vasquez.

As he’s done throughout the career, Bey once again provided fits for his opponent in the ring as well as those on the other side of the ropes forced to pick a winner. Through varying opinions, he was ultimately not that choice on Saturday.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox