ALTRINCHAM, England — These days, screams of conspiracy and corruption seem to greet almost every close decision.

Saturday night's brutal junior welterweight battle between Jack Rafferty and Mark Chamberlain elicited no such reaction.

After the 140-pound contenders shared 12 savage rounds, nobody could be sure whether Rafferty's relentless pressure fighting would see him declared the winner or if Chamberlain's accurate, hard punching had earned him a dramatic victory. The ringside judges also found it impossible to decide and the fight was declared a majority draw.

When Rafferty (26-0-1, 17 KOs) got back to this dressing room at Planet Ice, there was a feeling of anti-climax. Although he had retained his British and Commonwealth titles while seeing his profile reach new levels, the 29-year-old Oldhamer and his team believed he had done enough to have his hand raised.

"Oh 100%, I thought I'd won by one or two rounds," Rafferty said during his post-fight interview. "There wasn't for a second that I thought I'd lost.

"I didn't even go to my corner asking, 'Did I win or lose that?' I thought I'd won straight away. I'm not in there to score the fight — I'm in there to fight and thought I won.

"Everyone's buzzing with it. It was a fan friendly fight. I want to correct my wrongs. I'm still a champion, but not the way I wanted it to be. Let's hope they can run it back properly."

Since moving up to title level, Rafferty had broken down and stopped six consecutive opponents but none carried the threat that Chamberlain did.

Entrusted with headlining his first major show, Rafferty entered the fight as a favourite, but he too was stepping up the levels. He rolled forward in his familiar, all-action style but also absorbed everything Chamberlain could throw at him.

"He can punch, 100%. Fair play to him, I took him to the deep waters and he jumped out of them," he said.

"I thought he was looking for a way out in some of them rounds, looking at referee blinking and all that.

"Hopefully my stocks have gone up, not down, and hopefully everyone's happy with it. I want to run it back again."

Fifteen yards down the corridor, Chamberlain (17-0-1, 12 KOs) sat quietly scrolling through social media.

"I'm reading the comments as we speak. I think a lot of people are saying I've won the fight," the 26-year-old told The Ring.

"I do want to watch it back when I get back to the hotel but, reading the comments, I deserve to have won the fight maybe."

Chamberlain's power and accuracy were never in question, but after making his name as a lightweight, many wondered just how long he would be able to hold his shape for under Rafferty's nonstop aggression.

Chamberlain answered those doubters in emphatic fashion. Whenever Rafferty looked like building momentum, Chamberlain would find a flurry of hard, eye-catching punches. It is almost impossible to stop Rafferty from pushing forward, but even when he was tired,Chamberlain refused to wilt and landed the more cleaner shots.

“We know obviously Jack's big, strong, tough,” he said. "That's what we trained for. Like I said in the build-up, as soon as the first bell goes, I'll punch him in the face and we'll go from there.

"We know he comes on strong later on, but from when the fight was made, I'm not his previous opponents so I'm not going to do what they do.

"They all start fast, hitting and running, but I'm going to stand there and have a fight with him and that's exactly what I did."

The fight was so good and so closely contested that a rematch seems inevitable. With Dalton Smith preparing for his upcoming WBC title shot against Subriel Matias and Adam Azim sidelined after the expiration of Boxxer's deal with Sky Sports and subsequent move to the BBC, Rafferty and Chamberlain may have found each other at the ideal time.

Both seem to realise a rematch is the most logical way forward available to either man, and given the quality of Saturday's fight a win would also be a much more high-profile event.

"Yeah, 100%," Chamberlain said. "I believe we've both proved where we're at so let's get it out in Saudi Arabia, hopefully on a big Riyadh Season card, and let's both earn some proper money."

That is an idea Rafferty wholeheartedly agrees with.

"I want that 100%. Why not? With the British and Commonwealth titles and maybe something else on the line as well at the back end of the year," he said.

"Hopefully both our stocks have risen. Fair play to Mark. It takes two to tango. A great opponent and the toughest fight to date for us both. Let's run it back."