After controversial draw, opponent says Harvey ‘should have won’ main event match

Many people who witnessed undefeated Josh Harvey’s — who is a graduate of Dexter Regional High School — recent majority draw against Joe Giannetti in the main event of Cage Titans 41 at the Plymouth (Massachusetts) Memorial Hall thought Harvey won — including his opponent.

“Personally I don’t believe it was a draw, I think my opponent should have won the bout,” Giannetti wrote on social media soon after the three-round lightweight (155-pound) bout. “[Harvey] fought exactly how we had planned and prepared for. Props to him. I knew what I had to do to win, he was just very good at implementing his gameplan. I thought I was gonna’ finish the fight in the third round, but man he’s tough!”

The 28-year-old Harvey, who trains at Young’s MMA in Bangor, won the fight by a 29-28 count according to one of the three cageside judges, but the other two judges scored the fight a draw, one 28-28 and the other 29-29.

“I lost the third round for sure,” Harvey said of the match held earlier this month. “I was in control of it for all but one minute, but for that one minute he was on my back.

“I won the other two rounds handily, but somehow one judge scored it even in the first round and there was no way, and then the other judge gave [Giannetti] a 10-8 round in the third, which also there was no way.”

Harvey, now 5-0-1 in the professional ranks, hoped to use a victory over Giannetti (6-1-1) as a stepping stone to bigger things in MMA given that Giannetti, a Whitman, Massachusetts, product, reached the lightweight championship match of the UFC’s The Ultimate Fighter 27 series in July and was dropped from the world’s top promotion only after losing that bout by split decision to Mike Trizano.

Harvey has contacted the Massachusetts State Athletic Commission asking to have the decision in the Giannetti fight overturned. He expects it will be a couple of months before he learns if the MSAC will take any action.

“I can’t believe they won’t because it’s not just a case of, ‘Oh you lost the fight, you lost the fight.’ No, this is about a career,” he said.

Harvey plans to resume fighting after the holidays, likely in his preferred featherweight (145-pound) division.

“It’s a little heartbreaking,” Harvey said. “I don’t think it was a draw. I thought I won an easy decision. I don’t even think it was a hard decision. I guess I should be happy they didn’t say I lost.”