One of the strangest sports stories in a while came from the Cherneka Johnson-Nina Hughes WBA bantamweight title fight in Perth, Australia Saturday. There, ring announcer Lt. Dan Hennessey initially announced Hughes as the winner by majority decision as the referee was lifting Johnson’s arm before eventually reversing course and confirming that Johnson had won:
That led to an absolute roasting of Hennessey by people around the world, including even ESPN announcers Joe Tessitore and Tim Bradley:
For his part, Hennessey apologized on Facebook Sunday, saying “I own it, it’s all on me” and noting that he’d apologized to everyone involved.
Despite that, though, backlash continued to pour in. And on Tuesday, Hennessey said the reaction has impacted his mental health in such a way that he will be retiring from ring announcing after the one remaining event he’s contracted to work.
“No longer the world’s punching bag. I’m out” is quite a signoff indeed. And it looks to be the end to a notable ring announcing career for Hennessey. A U.S. Marine Corps veteran, he moved to New Zealand almost two decades ago and became a key figure in events there and in Australia. He also calls basketball for Sky TV and has acted in both domestic and international shows. The Sporting News Australia did a profile on him and his rise to combat sports announcing fame earlier this year:
It’s unfortunate to see that the ongoing backlash here has affected Hennessey this way. This was certainly a massive mistake, but there have been plenty of those in sports (and beyond, as with the similar winners mixups at the Oscars and the Miss Universe pageant last decade), and they’ve often made the events in question more memorable.
It’s understandable why there’s been so much criticism for Hennessey here, as this was an epic blunder on a world stage. But it’s not great that that’s led to a point where it’s affecting his mental health. Hopefully things will get easier for him in the days ahead.
[Lt. Dan Hennessey on Facebook; image from The Sporting News Australia]