Carlos Adames D12 Hamzah Sheeraz... WBC middleweight champion Carlos “Caballo Bronco” Adames of the Dominican Republic retained his title with a draw against lanky English challenger Hamzah Sheeraz on the “The Last Crescendo” show at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Saturday. [Editor's note: The result came with some controversy as most thought Adames deserved an outright win. Evernt promoter Turki Alalshikh was also seen visiting Sheeraz's corner late in the fight, with some claiming that Alalshikh had seen the official scorecards and was offering assistance to Sheeraz. The WBC has an open scoring rule that would have allowed both conrers to know the official scoring after eight rounds, but that rule was suspended by the local commission, in this case the British Boxing Board of Control]. The judges’ scores were 118-110 for Adames, 115-114 for Sheeraz and 114-114, to confirm the draw. Adames left his record at 24-1-1 with 18 knockouts, while Sheeraz leaves with a resume reading 21-0-1 and 17 knockouts.

 

According to the WBC, "Adames was not the local favorite, far from it. He seemed destined to lose, to enhance the figure of Sheeraz before the Saudi public. But the work of the Dominican was superior, he commanded most of the rounds and seemed to be heading to a comfortable victory to retain his 160-pound title."