Terry O’Connor has been summoned to appear before the stewards of the British Boxing Board to explain himself after a picture was widely circulated that appeared to show him looking at a phone while working as a judge during Saturday’s Lewis Ritson-Miguel Vazquez fight in Peterborough.

The still taken from television showed him looking down at something in his hand, which looked like a phone, but some have said it was a pen and his scorecard.

But following an outcry on social media, with even promoter Eddie Hearn demanding he be fired if found to be using a phone, O’Connor is to be asked to explain himself.

He might also be asked to explain two controversial scorecards from the show. He scored Ritson a 117-111 winner in a fight when most watching on television seemed to make Vazquez a comfortable winner, while he also made Thomas Patrick Ward an 88-84 winner over Thomas Essomba when their fight went to a technical decision after he had struggled throughout.

O’Connor, 67, a former heavyweight boxer, who has handled numerous world title fights as a referee and a judge, has been seen as a controversial figure. Among his more high profile controversies were an early stoppage in Joe Calzaghe’s win over Peter Manfredo, a landslide points win as scoring referee handed to Tyson Fury in his first fight with John McDermott, a fight he had seemed to lose and a allowing Danny Williams a free shot at Michael Sprott when Sprott had protested about an obvious low blow moments before.

Ron Lewis is a senior writer for Boxing Scene. He was Boxing Correspondent for The Times, where he worked from 2001-2019 - covering four Olympic Games and numerous world title fights across the globe. He has written about boxing for a wide variety of publications worldwide since the 1980s.