HAROON Khan's hopes of winning his first ABA junior title were dashed by another controversial decision on Saturday.

The 15-year-old brother of Olympic silver medallist Amir suffered an 8-6 points defeat in his North West title fight with Merseyside champion James Dickenson at Everton Park Leisure Centre.

The Greater Manchester 48kilo champion won the first round 3-2 and led after the second 6-3, only for the judges to swing the final round in Dickenson's favour, even though he was knocked to the canvas.

The win is the fourth successive year Haroon has lost in controversial circumstances in the junior national event.

His Bury Boxing Club coach Mick Jelley said: "I thought he won every round and was in complete control. Haroon caught him with a good shot in the last round and still the judges did not even award him a point.

"All the other coaches came up to me and said Haroon should have won but there is nothing we can do about it. We can put in a complaint but they are not going to reverse the decision.

"It has not helped Haroon the fact that this was only his second fight in six months. His timing was out and he was ring-rusty, but he should still have been awarded the fight.

"We are struggling to get anyone to fight him when it is not in a championships and it is time the ABA did something that ensured young boxers were provided with regular contests against top quality opponents.

"This leaves Haroon in the lurch in a big way as he will not get picked for the internationals. We have called for a rematch with Dickenson in Manchester on June 8 and we hope they will accept."