Cherneka Johnson went on to beat Susie Ramadan despite the nasty cut above her eye. Photo / Getty
There were calls for a bout on the undercard of the George Kambosos vs Devin Haney rematch to be stopped when a fighter began bleeding profusely in gruesome scenes.
Kiwi Cherneka Johnson was defending her IBF super bantamweight world title against Susie Ramadan in Melbourne on Sunday when the pair accidentally clashed heads in the second round.
A deep gash immediately opened above Johnson's left eye and blood began pouring out from the wound, covering her in blood and affecting her vision.
"The champion is badly cut over her left eye," Main Event commentator Ben Damon said.
"It's in a terrible spot and it is bleeding profusely. It's right in the eye and this could be a real problem for the continuation of this fight. That is a deep wound. That's enormous. This might cause an end to this fight.
"I don't know Cherneka Johnson will like it if she's caught with plenty more when she's fighting essentially with one eye. There's blood all over Ramadan as well.
"She is covered with blood. It's streaming down her face and there's no way she can see out of that eye.
The cut was far too big for Johnson's corner to patch up between rounds and viewers thought the right decision would have been to stop the fight.
CODE Sports' Brendan Bradford tweeted: "The fight has to be stopped. You can't let someone fight with a cut like that. This is ridiculous."
But the referee and ringside doctor consulted with Johnson on multiple occasions and surprisingly allowed the fight to continue.
Australian boxing legend Jeff Fenech said: "That's a bad cut. I can't believe they let it go the first time. It's a big cut. You can't control the bleeding."
Paul Kent added: "That is one of the nastiest gashes I've ever seen in a boxing ring."
Ramadan was penalised for boxing infringements late in the fight and Johnson managed to last the distance, claiming victory via unanimous decision to retain the belt.
In a fiery post-fight interview in the ring, Ramadan accused Tauranga-born Johnson of taking performance-enhancing drugs.
"I hope I get another chance and probably in my weight division, I think these girls are way too big and hopefully get her tested too because I've been told she's on it (PEDs)," Ramadan said.
"I don't know what to say," Kent said of Ramadan's comments.
"I've never seen that happen … that was stunning.
"She seemed to think towards the end of the fight she was still a chance of winning, she'd had two points deducted for punching illegally and a knockdown cost her. How she thought she had any chance of winning on the scorecards is beyond me."
Ramadan later admitted she shouldn't have made those accusations.
"Look I probably shouldn't have said what I said at the end, I didn't mean to accuse her or anything like that," Ramadan said in the post-fight press conference.
"We got told by her team, we asked for some drug tests prior to the fight and nothing could get done.
"Where's the urine test now, we're supposed to get that done."I've come up two weight divisions, so I was always going to be small. It is a bit disappointing."
In response, Johnson said: "A lot of people are going around with those accusations at the moment.
"Get me tested if you want. I worked hard. I did everything in this camp, to my nutrition, to my training, to my sleep. I just gave everything to this fight.
"I had a short camp and a little bit of a rough camp, but you know what? It's probably been my best one to date."
Earlier on the preliminary card, David Nyika defeated Titi Motusaga with a brutal knockout punch in the second round.
In the main event, George Kambosos Jr put up a fight but was defeated by a clinical Devin Haney in their rematch.
The 25-year-old boxer collapsed after his fight and went into a coma.