The RAC Arena announcer did not have a good day on Sunday.
The scene was reminiscent of when Steve Harvey crowned the wrong Miss Universe in 2015, or the “Moonlight” debacle at the Oscars in 2017. It was tough.
Cherneka Johnson defeated current WBA bantamweight champion Nina Hughes on Sunday in Perth, Australia, by majority decision. But when announcer Dan Hennessey, a former United States Marine, came up to announce her as her winner, she completely destroyed her delivery. That created a very confusing scene in the ring.
Hennessey misread the scorecards when making his announcement and accidentally declared Hughes the winner. Suddenly, she had her arm in the air and the 41-year-old began celebrating.
However, he quickly corrected his mistake as if nothing had happened. He read the scores again, apparently correct the second time, and Johnson’s arm went up in the air. That left Hughes and the broadcast announcers incredibly confused.
Just watch the scene unfold:
ESPN’s Joe Tessitore broke into the “absolute clown show trash fan hour” announcing from Hennessey as well, while trying to explain to viewers in the US what had really happened.
Joe Tess unloads on the ring announcer’s “absolute clown show trash amateur hour” and gets the results corrected pic.twitter.com/d1czlIp3B1
— CJ Fogler’s account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) May 12, 2024
The mistake wasn’t Hennessey’s only one on the night, either. He also ruined the scorecards for the fight between Pedro Guevara and Andrew Moloney that same night. The problem for him is apparently nothing new.
Even though his celebration was briefly stolen and almost everyone involved was confused, Johnson was victorious. In theory, that’s the only thing that really matters.