BEATEN champion Carl Thompson is demanding a rematch with Johnny Nelson after the controversial ending to his world title showdown in Derby on Saturday night. The Bolton fighter was due to meet with promoter Frank Warren today to discuss his future and a second clash between the two cruiserweights looks a certainty.

Thompson was visibly furious when referee Paul Thomas brought an end to his title defence midway through the fifth round and vigorously protested against the decision in the ring.

After initially refusing to part with his WBO belt, Sheffield's world number eight was crowned the new champion, amid the deafening boos from the capacity crowd.

Thompson, floored in the fourth round and on the receiving end of a barrage of punches from the Yorkshireman when Thomas stepped in, insists Nelson's dominance was all part of his game plan. He blasted: "I am bitterly angry. There was no way I was gone. Our plan was working. We knew we would be behind after four or five rounds.

"Nelson has never worked as hard as he did in those opening rounds. He was wasting a lot of energy. That is how you weaken someone. Once he had finished throwing his shots it would have been my turn to punch. The second half of the fight would have been mine.

"The same referee was in charge when I fought Chris Eubank last year. He knows what kind of a fighter I am, how I absorb pressure and come strong later on, and he should have given the champion enough chances to defend himself." Thompson, whose occasionally clumsy style can look so deceptive, says he was never once hurt by Nelson - not even by the punch which floored him.

"It was a flash knock-down. I got straight back up and got on with it," he added.

Nelson has already agreed to a rematch but believes it will be the same outcome.

"Carl would have gone down again by the end of the fifth round anyway. Every time I hit him he was in trouble and he knew it," he said. Warren, who promotes both fighters, believes he can pull off a second meeting between the two, which could happen within the next three months.

The venue for any rematch is still up in the air, but it could be staged right on Thompson's Horwich doorstep.

Bolton Wanderers' Reebok Stadium, which boasts a huge executive suite, is likely to come into the frame.

Saturday's controversial ending was another blow below the belt for boxing, coming just two weeks to the night after the Lennox Lewis-Evander Holyfield fiasco in New York.

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