IAIN Weaver was left fuming at the “ridiculous” verdict of the ringside judges after suffering his first professional defeat on Friday.

‘The Blessed One’ lost to the United States’ Wanzell Ellison in New Jersey on a split decision (58-56, 59-56, 56-58).

Super-featherweight Weaver had previously won five contests but now heads into a unification fight at the Lighthouse, Poole a week on Saturday with a blemish on his record.

He told the Daily Echo: “It was a terrible decision. I’ve watched it back and it was just ridiculous.

“The promoter told me it was a bad decision and that I won four out of the six rounds. The referee said to me straight after the fight that I had won it.

“Maybe it was close, but I won. The cleaner shots came from me and he was missing wildly.

“Harold Lederman from HBO was there and his exact words were, ‘the English kid won the fight but I’m glad the home boy got it’.”

Asked if he had any regrets over taking the fight, Weaver said: “Thinking about it now, yes, because I lost.

“If I had been sitting here now with a win then it would have been different, because I came to an unbeaten kid’s back yard on his own show and, to my mind, beat him fair and square.”

Weaver does not have to wait long before getting back in the ring, with the 24-year-old set to face Michael Ansah for the Universal Boxing Federation (UBF) world youth super- featherweight title and the World Boxing Union (WBU) world youth super- featherweight title in Poole.

He added: “I’m more than ready. The six rounds that I did against Ellison, we were working at a hell of a pace.

“It’s a little blip on my record but it can be put straight and I’ll go and get those titles in a couple of weeks.”

Veteran Steve Bendall will top the bill at the Lighthouse.

He defends his WBU middle- weight crown against 39-year- old Ghanaian Emmanuel Clottey.