The furious uproar, led by Lewis’s father, tainted the magnificent performance in the ring, which was certainly the fight of the night.

Ringside announcer Keith French declared that Lewis was the winner by a 2-1 decision, to the dismay of many impartial fans who saw Fraser scoring more points.

President of the Guyana Amateur Boxing Association, K. Juman-Yassin, alerted French that the announcement was incorrect because he had inspected the scorecards.

A check revealed that judge Desmond Rodrigues, though scoring the fight in favour of Fraser 79-77, had circled Lewis as the winner. Judge Rupert David had awarded the fight to Fraser 79-76 while Judge Mark Agrippa awarded Lewis the bout by a surprising 80-76.

In a previous encounter in Linden, April 28, Agrippa had also awarded that fight to Lewis for a split.

Celebrations were well under way in the Lewis camp, when the announcer gave the correct decision. Pandemonium broke out as Lewis’s supporters stormed the officials’ table, accusing them of changing the decision.

In the melee, Lewis’s father, a one-time National champion, boxed away the trophies, scattering them on the floor in pieces, as he declared his son was finished with boxing because he was cheated twice, referring to the fight in Linden when the younger boxer first lost to Fraser.

Eventually, Lewis’s uncle calmed down and Juman-Yassin showed the cards to him, explaining how a mistake was indeed made in the announcement. The man declared it was unforgivable for such a glaring mistake to be made at such a level, especially in a crucial bout.

The process of declaring a winner entails the referee first inspecting the scorecards then informing the table of the winner. The referee should know if the announcement is incorrect.

That the error escaped all the stages was indeed unthinkable. The consequences underlined the seriousness of the mistake.

But Fraser, who turns 26 years on June 24, started scoring points from the first round with effective jabs. He, however, mixed with Lewis briefly when Lewis scored with a flurry.

In round two, Fraser landed a vicious left hook, followed by an overhand right, with Lewis scoring a left hook. Fraser then stunned Lewis with a solid right and referee Linden Torrington counted Lewis.

By now, most of the spectators were out of the stands and surrounding the ring. Torrington took away a point from Fraser because someone in his corner was talking to the boxer during the round.

In the third round, Fraser again landed a powerful overhand right and Lewis was counted a second time. A toe-to-toe exchange ensued but many of Lewis’s shot missed the target, landing on Fraser’s guards. Lewis did score with a combination.

The fourth and final round had about equal exchanges, with Fraser landing a solid right to head and Lewis getting in an overhand right.

In the end, Fraser rightfully received the Featherweight trophy, while Lewis did not accept the runner-up prize. Both boxers fought out of the Guyana Defence Force gym.

The Best Boxer should have most likely come from that encounter but the officials were probably wary of another controversy and awarded the prestigious title to Rayon O’Neil (GDF), who gained a 2-1 majority decision over gym mate Dwayne Schroeder in the Light Heavyweight division.

There were six Open bouts with four being all-GDF encounters. In the first fight, Sithole George won the Flyweight title with a 2-1 decision over Steve Reman.

Revlon Lake gained a unanimous decision over Seaburn Duncan for the Lightweight crown.

In bruising encounters, James Walcott (Harpy Eagles) disposed of Marlon Rodney (GDF) in 1:33 minutes of the third round to win the Light Heavyweight crown and Mitchell Rogers (Forgotten Youth Foundation) put away Eusi Watkins (GDF) in 1:53 minutes of the fourth round for the Super Heavyweight title.