‘Knocked the s**t out of me’: Why Jeff Fenech has mixed emotions about WBC decision

Devastated, angry and confused after the controversial split-draw, he didn’t emerge until it was time to fly home the next day.

“It knocked the shit out of me,” Fenech tells CODE Sports from Mexico.

“It’s one of those Australian moments – people still tell me that they remember where they were that day, what pub they were at and that the pub went crazy when I didn’t win.”

Three decades later, the WBC has finally corrected the biggest travesty in Australian boxing history by retroactively awarding Fenech the super-featherweight world title.

The announcement was made at the WBC’s convention in Acapulco this week, but had been a couple of years in the making.

The sanctioning body’s president, Mauricio Sulaiman, sent the fight to hundreds of boxing judges around the world, and none of them could score it for Nelson.

Even 31 years on, the only person on the planet who thought Nelson won the bout is judge Miguel Donate.

Donate scored the fight 116-112 in Nelson’s favour, while Dave Moretti had a draw and Jerry Roth had Fenech winning 115-113.

A Puerto Rican, Donate had worked world title fights featuring Julio Cesar Chavez, Tommy Hearns and Felix Trinidad, but even he knew he’d got this one wrong.

Wracked with guilt, he only judged one more fight, a month later, before retiring for good.

Which is cold comfort for Fenech, whose life would have changed dramatically with a win.

Already a three-time world champion, Fenech had fought 24 of his previous 25 professional fights in Australia, with another early bout in Fiji.

A win and a fourth world title in Vegas could have seen The Marrickville Mauler become the first – and so far only – Australian boxer to break through in the US.

Instead, he was never quite the same fighter when he returned to Australia. He lost a rematch with Nelson eight months later and went 3-3 in the last six fights of his career.

“Like I said, it really knocked the shit out of me,” he says.

“I wanted to move up to fight Pernell Whitaker. That was my dream – a fifth world title. That’s what I wanted to do. I’m not saying I would’ve won, but that was the next step, moving up another weight division.

“People ask me, ‘Would you change it?’ And f**k yeah, I’d change it immediately, but you can’t. So you just carry on.”

Thirty-one years is a long time to ruminate on the opportunities, money and fights he missed out on, but Fenech is philosophical.

He’s also realistic enough to know that he probably would have gone off the rails with the type of money on hand had he won.

“My life would’ve been completely different. The money … everything,” he says, trailing off.

“But, fame and fortune changes everyone. It changed me enormously as a three-time world champion. I can’t imagine if I’d won it when I was 27 or 28 years old and had been a complete dickhead like I would’ve been.

“I know what I did in those years as a triple world champion. The ease of doing things and getting away with things because of who you were.

“Everything happens for a reason, and God or whoever did this for a reason. They gave it to me 31 years later so I could appreciate it in a different way. I do appreciate it and I’m really proud, but it’s a completely different emotion.”

Fenech’s relationship with the Australian public has been a tricky one at times since his retirement. He admits to succumbing to the excesses of fame in his pomp, but for a younger generation, he’s perhaps better known as the ex-pug who’s had a few run-ins with law enforcement.

So the experience he’ll cherish the most from this week isn’t being awarded the belt, or having the fight overturned, but the outpouring of support he’s received, just when he was starting to think he’d been forgotten.

James Packer called from Argentina as soon as he found out. He had a “beautiful talk” with David Gyngell. Anthony Minichiello and Ian Healy rang. The list goes on and on.

Then there’s the thousands of texts, DMs, tags and Instastories that have lit up his phone.

As much as it’s a weight off his own shoulders, Fenech is most happy for the people who still remember exactly where they were that day he was robbed.

“What’s really good is some of these older people are messaging me saying they’re getting as much enjoyment as I am out of it,” he says.

“They say they watched it at the pub and they all knew I won.

“Those people, they’re all older now, but I hope it’s put a smile on a lot of people’s faces.”

Having spent the night immediately after the fight sulking in a hotel room, Fenech – who is in Acapulco with 20 close friends and family – says the celebrations were a bit more subdued than they might have been 30 years ago.

“I had a drink here with all my beautiful friends,” he says.

“But it’s nothing like I would’ve done in Vegas back in ’91. I wouldn’t have had a quiet one if I’d won. That party would gone on for two days.”