“Absolutely ridiculous decision. Michael Conlan won all three rounds”.
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Conlan furiously labelled amateur boxing’s governing body AIBA as “corrupt” after his defeat by Russia’s Vladamir Nikitin in the men’s bantam boxing quarter-finals.
As Yahoo Sports noted, there were many other controversial decisions at the Rio Olympics, with many favoring Russian boxers.
Conlan, who was regarded as one of the favourites to claim gold in his category, appeared to have the better of Nikitin, but the Irishman was on the wrong end of the judges’ scorecards as he bowed out of the competition in controversial circumstances. “I would advise anybody not to compete for the AIBA [Amateur International Boxing Association]”, Conlan said, according to the BBC.
“They’re f***king cheats”, an angry Conlan exclaimed speaking to RTE Sport after the fight.
“I’ll never box for AIBA again. I don’t give a (expletive) that I’m cursing on TV”.
“My dreams have been shattered now”. They’re cheating bastards. They’re paying everybody.
“Amateur boxing stinks from the core right the way to the top”.
“I thought I boxed the ears off him in the first round, but they scored it against me”.
Separately, a senior official for the under-pressure AIBA said he believed the opprobrium heaped on the organisation was down to ignorance of how the scores are tallied. It’s his personal judgment.
The association added that it “will not shy away from its responsibilities” saying it is “fully committed to a zero tolerance policy towards fair play in boxing”.
A Russian boxer was also on the winning side of another very unusual decision when Evgeny Tishchenko was, in the words of AP columnist Tim Dahlberg, “handed an inexplicable decision win” over Kazakhstan’s Vasiliy Levit in their heavyweight gold medal match.
“The judging has been atrocious”, U.S. (and former Ireland) coach Billy Walsh said. I don’t even care what I say now. “These statements are groundless but he’s free to have his opinion”.
Atlas referenced what he feels was a fixed 2012 Olympics bout between an Azerbaijani and Japanese boxer.
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Continuing on from criticism of the previous night’s decision to award another Russian – super-heavyweight Evgeny Tischenko – the gold medal over Vassiliy Levit, some of the sport’s biggest names let fly.
