The 33-year-old southpaw, a longtime member of boxing’s Who Needs Him? Club, had finally landed the opportunity he had craved for years and it looked as though he had not let it slip.

But after 12 rounds against undefeated Albert Ramirez, two of the three scoring judges somehow thought the Venezuelan had done enough to beat Richards 115-113, or 7-5 in rounds.

“I’m standing there and the decision is getting read out,” Richards tells The Ring. “I’m thinking ‘yeah, I’ve definitely won that fight.’

“I hear the first scorecard, 115-113 Ramirez, and I thought ‘oh no, this can’t be happening.’

“I was shocked, I just shook my head. Then they said 116-112 to me. That’s good but even then I’m thinking that score is a lot closer than reality.

“And then when I heard 115-113 again, I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh.’ Then they said, ‘And still.’ I don’t know what happened then. My hand just dropped and all I felt was all the energy rush out of my body.

“I was … in shock.”

As was almost everyone who watched the showdown at Montreal Casino on Thursday night. Even Ramirez, the beneficiary of the decision, could not believe it.

“Ramirez came over and apologised,” Richards adds. “Because even he knew he lost. He even told my coach Dave Coldwell. He apologised to Dave and said ‘I'm sorry. Richards won that fight.’

"Fair play to him for saying that but at the same time, it doesn't make it easier, you know? I mean, I was heartbroken.”

Boxing history is littered with incorrect decisions, some are close but others are hard to comprehend. The two 115-113 scorecards in favour of Ramirez (23-0, 19 KOs) fall into the latter.

“My performance was tactically perfect,” says Richards, who scored himself a 118-110 winner after watching the fight back. “I was comfortable. I was out-landing, boxing outside, inside, shutting things down when I needed to, I wasn't getting caught with anything clean. I was controlling the whole fight.

“When the bell went, I remember I was so happy because all the hard work throughout the years had paid off. Not just in the two training camps I had for Ramirez, because the first fight was postponed, but all that hard work had all paid off.

“I ran to the corner, jumped on the ropes and screamed to high heavens, thinking that my life has changed, my children's lives have changed. My mum and dad's lives have changed. Everyone's life is going to change now.

“I've done my part. I've achieved what I've always wanted to achieve. For it to be taken away from me is not right.”

As revealed by The Ring on Monday, Richards and his S-Jam management team are now preparing an appeal to the WBA, who sanctioned the fight for their interim light-heavyweight title. Richards hopes for an immediate rematch at the very least but believes the defeat should be scrubbed from his record.

“I kind of held myself together once I heard the result,” he says. “I walked upstairs to the changing room like a zombie, if I'm honest.

“And I'm not going to lie, man, when I got there I just started crying. I was devastated. I’m a grown man and I’m not much of a crier but I cried like a baby.

“I do this for my family, I do it for my mum, my dad, my two baby boys. Of course I do it for myself but people are counting on me. If I get beaten by the better man I can look at myself and know I need to improve here or there.

“But if I win a fight by 10 rounds, what can you do? At that point they should give me the decision.”

Despite his record currently showing a defeat, Richards was a new entry in The Ring’s latest light-heavyweight rankings, entering at No. 8 while Ramirez dropped from No. 3 to No. 9.

“The silver lining is that people saw a glimpse of how good I can be,” Richards says. “That was not even 60 per cent of me in that ring and I can do much more and that’s frightening.

“I just took someone ranked No. 3 with Ring Magazine to school. My new ranking means the world to me and now I hope the WBA make the correct decision and I can put it right in the ring.”