Tauranga-born Maori Cherneka Johnson on 12 May, made history by becoming the second Māori boxer to become a two-division champion after winning the WBA Bantamweight title against Nina Hughes.
However, it came with controversy.
After ten rounds of boxing, we go to the judge’s scorecard for a decision where we have a Majority decision winner. But American-New Zealander Lt Dan Hennessey announced that the UK’s reigning World champion, Nina Hughes would be the winner. However, during the 41-year-old, Nina’s celebration, Lt Dan Hennessey would have a Ms Universe Steve Harvey moment and announced that the winner was, in fact, Cherneka Johnson.
