By Jake Donovan

Verona, NY – It took Nicholas Walters more than an hour to wrap his head around what took place in his latest ring performance. The former featherweight performance was believed to have dominated Camden, New Jersey slugger Jason Sosa over 10 rounds in their HBO-televised co-feature Saturday evening at Turning Stone Resort & Casino in Verona, New York.

Most at ringside as well as those watching at home seemed to agree with the 99-91 tally turned in by HBO unofficial scorer and recent Hall of Fame electee Harold Lederman. Walters himself was fine with that assessment, refusing to accept a shutout verdict.

“You know, it’s Christmas… so I gave him one round,” Walters told ringside media after the fight.

The three judges had a much different view in somehow ruling the super featherweight bout a majority draw. In fact, Walters wasn’t awarded more than five rounds on any of the three scorecards turned in, as totals of 95-95 (twice) and 96-94 in favor of Sosa left him with his first career blemish at 26-0-1 (21KOs).

In analyzing what went wrong in the eyes of the judges, the working theory is that Walters wasn’t properly rewarded for his work on the inside. The boxer-puncher from Jamaica outlanded Sosa 118-39 – greater than 3:1 – in body shots, as well as landing more power shots and overall punches and at a higher connect percentage, whereas Sosa was the busier fighter.

While it’s not the win that he deserves, Walters can at least walk away with his unbeaten record still intact. As for trying to figure out how to guard against this happening again, the plan is to continue to stay the course.

“I just outboxed him at least nine rounds out of 10,” Walters told krikya360.com after the fight. “I don’t see why I’d have to change anything. I always fought for the knockout in the past, but for this fight… I can’t control how the judges see the fight.”

The bout marks the second straight time Walters was extended the full distance after having stopped his previous five opponents. He settled for a 12-round decision over Miguel Marriaga in June, a fight in which he was forced to vacate his title at the scales after showing up above the featherweight limit.

Jake Donovan is the managing editor of krikya360.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox