American boxing fans have blasted Australians in attendance for the fight between George Kambosos Jr and Devin Haney after they booed the United States national anthem.
The build-up to the home-ground fight clearly pitted Devin Haney as the villain at Marvel Stadium, with the heat boiling over as Australian fans let their feelings toward Haney be known.
Extremely loud boos rang out across the Melbourne stadium when Ben Clark performed the Star-Spangled Banner, underlying the atmosphere inside the arena.
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It was followed by an incredible reaction to Tina Kokkalis who performed Greece’s Hymn to Liberty before launching into Advance Australia Fair as 41,000 in attendance sang along for the song.
The boos hit their peak as Devin Haney entered the ring, before turning raucous as the crowd’s hero George Kambosos Jr entered the ring.
Iconic ring announcer Michael Buffer introduced the fighters and let out his legendary ‘let’s get ready to rumble’ line.
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Haney looked on top, for the most part, becoming the undisputed champion of the lightweight division, after winning via unanimous decision.
The American’s win left a 41,129 packed Marvel Stadium devastated, although Kambosos Jr was outclassed on the occasion.
It signals the first time the lightweight division has been unified in the four-belt era.
However, American fans watching from the other side of the planet weren’t too pleased with what they heard coming through their TV screens as their national anthem was playing.
US sports writer Dan Clark tweeted: "Complete miss-match of a fight. George Kambosos looks slow, uninspired, unfit, and in a completely different class to the wonderful Devin Haney."
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"Shame on the Australian crowd for the 'boos' during the US national anthem earlier too. Now, complete silence."
One fan tweeted: “Haney fought a brilliant fight, boxing from the outside. That's what you get for booing the US national anthem, lol.”
Another said: “Australia boo’ing the national anthem smh no class I never seen that before.”
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Others called the booing ‘disrespectful’, ‘reprehensible’ and ‘shameful’.
Meanwhile, one Australian attempted to apologise on behalf of the Aussies.
They tweeted: “Apologies to every American who had to watch the Australian crowd boo the Star-Spangled Banner. It's petty at best and was a complete lack of understanding and respect…”
There were some ugly scenes following the fight as well as violent brawls erupted outside of Marvel Stadium.
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A series of shocking videos were shared by Channel 7 where angry fans were captured throwing punches in Melbourne as spectators looked on.
One video shows a man knocked down to the pavement as the brawl continues around the motionless victim in extremely disgusting scenes.
A separate incident shows two men trading blows as fans walk past and try to break up the fight before others begin to brawl side by side with them.
Featured Image Credit: Sky Sports.
