GOLD COAST, Australia – Jake Wyllie and Paul Fleming appear destined for a rematch after they fought to a controversial draw at the Gold Coast Convention Centre.
The 37-year-old Fleming returned from almost three years of inactivity and moved up from junior lightweight to junior welterweight to fight an opponent who as recently as March enhanced his reputation when so competitive in defeat when accepting a date, at late notice, with George Kambosos Jnr.
He proceeded to demonstrate his superior intelligence and experience to consistently test his naturally bigger, 25-year-old rival, and was in turn vocal about his disgust when after 10 rounds the scores of 100-90 to Wyllie, 97-93 to Fleming and 95-95 were announced.
“Were you watching?” Fleming – like Wyllie of Australia – shouted. “Obviously people in here weren’t watching. All respect to Jake and his team, but look at his face. Look at his face, he knows he didn’t win that fight.
“I took this fight after two-and-a-half years off. Two weight divisions up to what I fought two-and-a-half years ago.
“And then I come back and get ripped. Come on man. You’ve all seen it. Exactly – boo.
“Listen, all respect to Jake and his team, there’s been no bad words this whole thing, but he himself can go home and have a deep think and he knows he lost that fight.
“He knows he lost that fight. And if you think he did [win], then you don’t know shit about boxing.”
The one-dimensional and often one-paced Wyllie, ultimately, appeared to narrowly outwork Fleming, who boxed like a well-preserved veteran.
He built a promising lead in the early rounds but Fleming’s sense of range and timing improved thereafter. Fleming, who competed at Beijing 2008, often frustrated the vastly less experienced Wyllie. He had a particularly strong sixth round when he both spun Wyllie and landed a left-right combination; he tired thereafter, but remained competitive on account of how easy he found Wyllie to read.
