Australian boxer Andrew Moloney has been controversially denied the WBA super flyweight title after being deemed to have headbutted opponent Joshua Franco.

Though Moloney convincingly had the better of the fight, the referee deemed an eye injury sustained by Franco had been caused by an "accidental headbutt" in the first round and, after half an hour of review, officials upheld the decision.

But replays showed any head-to-head contact was minimal at best while Moloney had landed several punches on Franco's eye, any of which could conceivably have caused the injury.

Franco was unable to continue due to the injury, but the referee's ruling that it had been caused by the headbutt meant the fight was ruled a "no decision", instead of the TKO victory Moloney felt he had deserved.

"That eye was closed by 50 jabs," Moloney said after the fight.

"I can't believe that they took this away from me. I've trained my arse off the last five months, been away from my family. I can't believe they didn't give it to me."

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Bob Arum, the promoter of the fight, said he was "disgusted" by the decision and that he and any future fights he promotes would "get the f**k out of Vegas".

"People blame me because I'm the promoter, but I've got nothing to do with the god damn thing, I just want a fair adjudication," Arum said.

"The referee made a mistake, and they [the officials] have his back, it's clear. I mean, it's not even close."

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Robert Byrd, one of the replay officials, said he saw "two headbutts".

"The punches only made it [the eye injury] worse," he said.

The decision was widely panned across social media, with most observers sympathetic with Moloney.

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Even Oscar-winning actress Helen Mirren chimed in, saying the Aussie was "robbed".

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