Ryan Burnett claimed the IBF bantamweight title at the end of an eventful evening in Belfast

There will be more memorable nights to come for Burnett, who has given his hometown a new world champion to support.

Sky Sports expert Andy Lee believes Burnett is fully capable of unifying the titles in the bantamweight division.

"Belfast has a new star and this guy could go on and unify the division," said Lee. "It's only his 17th fight, this is a huge accomplishment. He's done it so early in his career - the future is very bright."

Boos and bemused expressions greeted the scorecard of judge Clark Sammartino, who somehow managed to hand in a 118-108 total in favour of Haskins.

Burnett had floored the Bristol man twice, dominating the fight from the first bell, and it was hard to explain how the American official had awarded the fight to Haskins by such a wide margin.

Speaking afterwards, promoter Eddie Hearn suggested that the referee had filled in the wrong section of scorecard.

Robert Smith, General Secretary of the British Boxing Board of Control, branded it a 'wrong' scorecard, and suggested that Mr Sammartino would not be returning to these shores.