Antonio Tarver rallied in the closing rounds to earn a draw with unbeaten cruiserweight Lateef Kayode in Los Angeles on Saturday night.
Neither was happy with the decision which saw each fighter win 115-113 on one judge's scorecard with the third recording a 114-114 verdict.
"I beat this guy in every aspect," said Tarver, who spent the first six rounds on the back foot before a strong finish pegged back his Nigerian opponent.
"I dictated every round. I hit him with clean shots all night long. He was sloppy. He was just slapping and never landing."
The statistics backed up Tarver's claims with the 43-year-old landing 20 per cent of his shots compared to just eight per cent for Kayode, who goaded Tarver forward throughout the bout.
Kayode said: "Everybody knows I won this fight. I came to fight and I did my job. I am better than him."
On the same card, Winky Wright was soundly outpointed in his first fight in nearly three years as he lost a unanimous decision to undefeated middleweight Peter Quillin.
Austin Trout defended his WBA super-welterweight title with a unanimous decision over Delvin Rodriguez while Leo Santa Cruz claimed the vacant IBF bantamweight title with a one-sided win over Vusi Malinga.
In Las Vegas, Beibut Shumenov outpointed Enrique Ornelas to retain his WBA light heavyweight title.
