Boxing fans slam decision to give Jeff Fenech world title he was robbed of in 1991 vs Azumah Nelson

Boxing legend Jeff Fenech has won a fourth world title 31 years after the worst heist in Australian boxing history – but not all fight fans are happy about it.

Three-time world champion Fenech was awarded a fourth title retroactively on Tuesday after the World Boxing Council ruled he had won his controversial 1991 fight against Azumah Nelson.

Boxing legend Jeff Fenech (pictured during the controversial 1991 fight) has won a fourth world title 31 years after the worst heist in Australian boxing history – but not all fight fans are happy about it

Fenech (pictured with WBC belt) was awarded the super featherweight belt by boxing legends Roberto Duran, Julio Cesar Chavez and Miguel Cotto at the WBC convention in Mexico

Fenech was awarded the super featherweight belt by boxing legends Roberto Duran, Julio Cesar Chavez and Miguel Cotto at the WBC convention in Acapulco, Mexico, more than three decades after judges ruled his match against Nelson a draw.

The retroactive award of the title is a first for professional boxing.

While there has been an outpouring of support for Fenech, especially from Australians who remember the controversial match, there are many who believe that awarding title belts years after fights is a slippery slope.

“The WBC will be handing out a lot of ‘retrospective titles’ if this is the criterion,” boxing reporter Ciaran Gibbons wrote on Twitter.

“This is the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen. Different times, different scores, different judging. If it was a robbery, so be it, still happens to this day,” another boxing fan tweeted.

‘That’s just strange. Numerous battles in history with controversial scores. Nelson needed no help from the judges in the repechage,” said another, referring to the Ghanaian knockout win over the Aussie in 1992.

Other fight fans were quick to point out other controversial boxing decisions that they believe deserved much more review.

Ridiculous if true because Pernell Sweet Pea Whitaker JC Chavez was the biggest robbery in boxing history but you still wouldn’t hand him the win 30 years or more later,” wrote one Twitter user.

The 1993 Whitaker-Julio Cesar Chavez match was judged a draw, despite Whitaker appearing to clearly outpace his opponent in what is considered one of the worst decisions in the history of the sport.

While there has been an outpouring of support for Fenech, especially from Australians who remember the controversial match, there are many who believe retroactive awarding of title belts is a slippery slope

‘Any chance for GGG to get justice for the first fight with Canelo after this?!’ asked another boxing fan on Twitter.

Fans were outraged after Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin battled to a draw in 2017 – with the vast majority of pundits believing that ‘GGG’ had done enough to get the nod.

Fenech certainly dominated his rival in their first fight in Las Vegas, but one judge scored the match a draw, the second gave him the win and the third said Nelson was the victor meaning the Aussie missed out on the WBC super featherweight title.

The decision was heavily booed by 15,000 fans in the arena

“It was total b******p – I got robbed,” Fenech said.

“The whole world knows I won.”

Fenech has joined an elite group of boxers – including Thomas Hearns and Ray Leonard – to have won world titles in four separate weight divisions after finally being recognized for one of the sport’s greatest injustices

At the time, Fenech was an undefeated world champion in three weights and the result left him devastated when he returned to Sydney after the Sin City robbery.

‘I can’t put it into words. I couldn’t talk when it happened,” Fenech said after he finally got justice from the WBC.

“It feels even bigger tonight with the three legends who presented me with my belt. I won, I’ve known that for 30 years. It takes a long time.’

Fenech has joined an elite group of boxers – including Thomas Hearns and Ray Leonard – to have won world titles in four separate weight divisions.