You always got a fair fight at Doncaster Plant Works!

I certainly was because I judged it 116-112 in favour of Usyk.

Having covered hundreds of amateur bouts and numerous professional contests, including Commonwealth, European and World title championships, I know only too well that rounds are often hard to call and that can lead to differences of opinion.

But I honestly don’t know what fight the judge who had Joshua as the clear winner was watching – albeit he fought a much better fight than in their first meeting and could have take the honours had he been able to build on an impressive ninth round – but Usyk was a clear winner.

Having said that, I’ve seen numerous fights in Doncaster over the years where the judging has not always reflected the action.

I’ve certainly seen quite a few professional contests where a local fighter, especially a newcomer who had sold a lot of tickets, found himself outboxed on the night only to be handed a draw.

I can sort of see the logic in that as referees know that small hall promoters need boxers who can put bums on seats in order to survive. On the other hand it can be argued that they are cheating fight fans as a whole and giving the boxer and his supporters false hope.

By far the biggest injustices I came across were in the amateur ranks where some judges who had a dislike for a rival club sometimes let that affect their judgement when marking bouts.

Something that could never be said about the late Ken Blood during his time in charge at Doncaster Plant Works.

Ken put on numerous shows during his time at the club and, unlike some other clubs, always fairly matched the respective boxers with the result that a good night of boxing was always assured.

*One of the most disappointing stories I’ve had to report on during my time working in the city was the demise of the Doncaster & District Cricket League.

When I first started working in Doncaster the league boasted around 100 teams and was one of the biggest, if not the biggest, in the country.

Virtually every village and town had at least one team in the league as did all the major employers at the time such as ICI, Pilkington’s, International Harvesters, Bridon etc.

Arguably it was the decision by some of the leading clubs to move to the Yorkshire Council, which in turn, led to other leading clubs doing the same, which started the long decline.

As I recall, the clubs with the best grounds and facilities were unhappy at having to play at grounds they felt were not in the same league even if the team was.

I felt at the time that the best solution would have been to form a ‘Super League’ within the Doncaster League with no promotion to it unless clubs could meet the criteria demanded by the top clubs.

Various hard-working officials failed to stem the flow over the years, despite thinking out of the box, and the league folded just two years short of its centenary, though it took another two years to finalise everything, with two of the founder clubs Hatfield Main and Brodsworth Main meeting for the last time on the last day of the season 12 years ago this month.