Despite his recent inactivity, Richards put on a clinic on away soil, and felt he was in complete control against the undefeated Ramirez.

"I was doing what I wanted, when I wanted, how I wanted,” Richards told BoxingScene. “Ramirez was trying to apply pressure and I nullified it, beating him from a distance, beating him inside.

"I just took each round as they came. I didn't look too far ahead and each round I felt like I was building momentum. After the bell rang in the 12th round, I thought, 'Yeah, I'm going to be interim world champion.' There were no nerves. I knew I was going to win the fight. I won it so clear. I just had my hand up and wanted to hear it announced.”

Richards thought he had finally changed his life, then the scorecards were read.

"I'd been dreaming about this for weeks,” he said. “Then when I heard 115-113 to him and 116-112 to me, and after that when they said, '115-113 and still...' honestly, my heart, everything, my whole body, just no energy left my body."

The result caused uproar back home in the UK with fans slating the decision on social media. The locals in Canada were also unhappy with the judges’ verdict.

"I walked through the crowd and there was a lot of interaction, people shouting, 'You won, you won.' It was all a blur,” Richards, 19-2 (4 KOs), recalled. “I walked up the stairs, the doctor wanted to have a look at me, and I remember not really wanting to see the doctor because I hardly got hit. Then I went upstairs, walked to the changing rooms and I just broke down. I'll be honest, I'm not going to lie, I broke down."

Even Ramirez, now 23-0 (19 KOs), admitted that he had been lucky to walk away with his belt and undefeated record intact.

"He spoke to my coach and, to be fair to him, told my coach, 'I didn't win that fight. Richards has won. I'm sorry.'” said Richards. "I watched the fight about five times and you can tell he knew after that fight. He was almost like, 'Whoa, I've won?' He almost didn't look happy."

Richards, who has long struggled to get the top names at super middleweight and light heavyweight, is now left in no man's land after the result.

"This is people's lives, man. People's mental health. People don't realise what it does to people,” the 33-year-old said. “People didn't want to fight me before. They just saw me school one of the top guys in the division. Who wants to fight me now?

"If no one wants to fight me, how am I going to get my income to provide for my family? Because as fighters, we have to fight to earn money. If there's no fight, there's no income. There is no money. How am I going to put food on the table for my family?"

Richards revealed that his team is working on an appeal with WBA and that he wants an immediate rematch and the loss struck off his record. He would also be happy to travel back to Canada to settle the score.

"I'll fight anyone, anywhere. I've proven that,” he said. "I just hope that out of a bad situation, something good can come of this."