STUART HALL suffered a controversial defeat to Lee Haskins as he made an unsuccessful attempt to reclaim the IBF World Bantamweight title at the O2 Arena.

Hall, who became only the second North-East fighter to claim a world title when he beat Vusi Malinga in 2012, lost on all three judges' scorecards despite pushing his opponent all the way in an extremely close contest.

Having struggled in the early stages as Haskins' unorthodox style made him difficult to pin down, Darlington-based Hall finished extremely strongly in the second half of the contest.

He clearly rocked Haskins with a powerful right in the 11th round, and looked to have won the majority of the rounds in the second half of the fight.

However, when it came to the verdict of three judges, Haskins was proclaimed a comfortable winner as he held on to his belt.

While one judge scored the contest closely at 115-113, the other two recorded 117-111 and 116-112 verdicts in Haskins' favour.

Quite how one of the judges felt there was a six-point gap between the fighters is hard to pin down, as while Haskins continued to counter-punch in the latter stages, Hall was clearly the more aggressive fighter.

He landed more punches in the final four rounds, and the boos that rang around the O2 as Haskins paraded his belt in the air confirmed that most of the spectators felt Hall deserved to win.

It remains to be seen what the 36-year-old does now, although he confirmed his desire for a rematch in the immediate aftermath of the fight.