The job of a referee is to police a fight, not score it.

Scottish bantamweight Lee McGregor was held to a controversial 10-round draw by Argentina’s Diego Ruiz at the York Hall in London on Friday. The lone scorer was referee Kieran McCann – who had it 95-95 – and his numbers were not popular.

McGregor, who entered as The Ring’s No. 10 rated bantamweight, was the aggressor throughout. He threw more, landed more, and varied up his attack, and while Ruiz battled back gamely, more often than not, he came off second-best in the exchanges.

The Edinburgh man boxed very well in the opening round. The uppercut was landing solidly and McGregor also made a real target of the body. However, after sampling the power coming his way, Ruiz sensed that McGregor couldn’t hurt him and began to let his hands go.

The home fighter led and the visitor immediately responded. That was the pattern all the way, but Ruiz was rarely in charge.

It wasn’t vintage McGregor by any means. He looked bored and was simply going through the motions, which gave Ruiz a lot of counter punching opportunities. The Argentinian enjoyed some significant success in the middle rounds, but McGregor regained control and appeared to have posted a comfortable enough points win.

Had there been three judges, it’s highly unlikely that McGregor (11-0-1, 9 knockouts) would now have a blemish on his otherwise perfect record. The BBBoC might want to review the protocol of having the third man in the ring score a fight. If you’re distracted by looking out for fouls and infringements, how can you realistically judge a bout properly?

The bout was contested at 122 pounds. McGregor, 25, will return to bantamweight for bigger game.

The 27-year-old Ruiz is now 23-4-1 (12 KOs).

In middleweight action, Essex-based southpaw Danny Dignum scored a sixth-round stoppage of Grant Dennis. The official time of the stoppage was 2:31.

Dennis enjoyed some success off the backfoot, but he lacked the firepower to discourage Dignum from marching forward. The damage was beginning to mount early in the sixth when a left uppercut forced Dennis to take a knee. Two more knockdowns forced referee Bob Williams to halt the action, and while a bloodied Dennis protested, the fight was only going one way.

Dignum, 29, improves to 14-1 (8 KOs). The 38-year-old Dennis falls to 17-4 (3 KOs).

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