Dillian Whyte feared Oleksandr Usyk would be robbed of a win against Anthony Joshua before the decision was announced in the ring.
Joshua lost his heavyweight titles for the second time in four fights when he was outpointed by Usyk, with all three judges' awarding Usyk the win by scores of 117-112, 116-112 and 115-113.
Usyk out-struck betting favourite Joshua for most of the fight and came close to stopping the Brit in the final round, with the bell seemingly stopping the fight five seconds early.
And Whyte feared before the decision was read that Joshua would get the hometown advantage on the judges' scorecards.
He told iFL TV : "I think Usyk's won by one or two rounds for me, but they'll give it to Joshua split decision. He was jabbing Joshua all the way through, Joshua was very tentative and very hesitant.
"Even now Usyk is standing up cheering and Joshua is still sitting down. Joshua didn't fight the way I expected him to fight, Usyk didn't do much but Joshua didn't put on enough pressure."
Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn said Joshua will activate the rematch clause with February or March of next year being a targeted date for the second fight.
Usyk has since returned to Ukraine after not seeing his family since January and said he isn't thinking about a rematch for now.
Joshua revealed last week that he plans to fight Whyte again before retiring from boxing, with the pair both holding a win over each other in the ring.
Whyte - who fights Otto Wallin next month - handed Joshua his first loss on the amateur circuit, but 'AJ' avenged his defeat by knocking out Whyte in 2015.
What did you make of Joshua's performance against Usyk? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
Reflecting on the fight, Whyte was "baffled" that Joshua didn't throw more punches against Usyk in the later rounds of the fight.
He said: "I'm still a bit baffled to be honest, it was a bizarre performance from Anthony Joshua. But Usyk fought good.
"I don't know man, I don't know. Joshua is a strange guy, he's a real proper f****** weirdo. Why's he gonna wait to the second fight? He should have been putting the heat on him
"Even at the latter stages, ok you're eight rounds down. You feel like you're down on the scorecards, start having a go. You're the unified heavyweight champion of the world.
"Maybe he wanted to lose and try beat him again to be three-time heavyweight champion, I don't know."
