MONTREAL -- Hard-hitting Juan Urango knocked down hometown favorite Herman Ngoudjo twice in the third round, then cruised to a bizarre unanimous decision Friday night to capture the vacant IBF junior welterweight title.
Urango (21-1-1), who lost the same belt to British star Ricky Hatton in January 2007, won the fight decisively on three wildly inconsistent scorecards. Judge Richard Green had it 118-108, Robert Doyle had it 120-106 and Pasquale Procopio 116-110.
"I fought a great champion -- it wasn't an easy fight," the 28-year-old Urango said. "I didn't think the fight would last 12 rounds. Give credit for that to Herman."
Give credit to the ringside timer, too, who made the fight last nearly 13 rounds. The timer never rang the bell when the 10th should have ended, instead allowing it to drag on for 5 minutes, 10 seconds.
Yvon Michel of co-promoter Seminole Warriors Boxing said that had a knockout or any other significant event happened during the extra time, the bout would have been invalidated.
"Someone made a mistake," Michel said.
Ngoudjo (17-3) is now 0-for-2 in title fights, having dropped a close decision to Paul Malignaggi for a junior welterweight belt on Jan. 5, 2008. He also lost by split decision in a title eliminator to Jose Luis Castillo in January 2007.
Ngoudjo was dropped twice in the third round by Urango, a straight-ahead Colombian southpaw who hadn't fought in more than nine months. One knockdown came off a left uppercut and the other with a straight left to Ngoudjo's jaw.
The transplanted Canadian, originally from Cameroon, stumbled to his feet both times and managed to finish the bout with a broken jaw.
"He hits hard," Ngoudjo said. "I still got up and got through to the 12th. ... I think it was because I really wanted to be world champion. But it's not the end of the world. I was missing a little something and I'll find it. I will go on."
Ngoudjo was also dealing with the distraction caused by his trainer, Howard Grant, who had a suspension appeal turned down two days before the fight. Grant's older brother, Otis, and trainer-broadcaster Russ Anber took over in the corner.
In the co-feature, Canadian welterweight contender Antonin Decarie (21-0) dominated American veteran Dorin Spivey (35-6) in earning a unanimous decision.