One of the judges accused by Teresa Perozzi?s American opponent of biased scoring on Saturday night has vehemently rejected the claim, insisting all Bermudian judges pride themselves on being ?absolutely fair?.

Roselin Morales ? who was undefeated in five professional fights before losing on points to Perozzi ? said after her narrow, though unanimous, points defeat at Clearwater Beach that she had been the victim of some cynical ?home-town? judging.

Vic Richmond scored the fight 97-95 to Perozzi, Clevelyn Critchlow 97-96 to Perozzi and David Hope 96-94 to Perozzi.

?I won that fight ? there?s absolutely no question about that,? argued Morales.

?I knew if it went to points that it was always likely to be a home-town decision, and that was definitely the case tonight. I know I landed far more punches than she did.

?It was a tough fight, but I don?t think you?d find anybody neutral in the audience who could possibly have scored the fight her way.?

But Richmond ? who is also the president of the Bermuda Amateur Boxing Association ? insisted there was no question of any bias.

?I spoke to Roselin after the fight and she said to me pretty much the same things as she said to the Press,? he said.

?It?s a shame this had to happen because I though it was an extremely good fight between two talented boxers. In any fight as close as that one, more often than not the boxer who loses the points decision is unhappy ? that?s just the nature of boxing I?m afraid.

?I was one of the judges when Teresa lost to Monica Nunes on points (in 2004) and she was very upset about that decision as well ? so in a way you cannot win.

?But I can assure you that all judges in Bermuda pride themselves on being absolutely fair and impartial. We sit on three different sides of the ring and hand in our scorecards at the conclusion of every round. We just call it as we see it ? and it was an extremely close fight, there wasn?t much in it at all.

?There are many different things you have to take into consideration as a judge, not least of which is the power of the scoring punches. Now if I?m being honest, I think Roselin is probably a better boxer ? Teresa is more of a brawler ? but as I said to Roselin afterwards, she got caught repeatedly by Teresa?s left hook while some of her punches were really only slaps and those do not count.

?As I?ve said, in very close fights one person is always likely to feel disappointed or perhaps slightly cheated. But all I can say is that there was never any question of us being biased towards Teresa. In our eyes, she won the fight fair and square.?