AIBA assigned Karim Bouzidi to a new role within the organization Thursday, but declined to elaborate on the reason.
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The AIBA have also reassigned executive director Karim Bouzidi. The Frenchman is also the CEO of the World Series of Boxing, a team-based professional league run by AIBA.
“Since the beginning of the Olympic Games, AIBA has conducted 239 bouts”.
It said in a statement that Franco Falcinelli, AIBA’s most senior vice-president and European Boxing Confederation president, would take over operational responsibilities for the Olympic competition which ends on Sunday.
Vladimir Nikitin’s withdrawal from his semi-final on Thursday, August 18 will ramp up the pressure on amateur boxing’s world governing body, the AIBA, which has faced criticism from boxers and coaches in Rio after at least two deeply contentious judging decisions.
A spokesman for the federation that governs the boxing tournament said Wednesday that the names of the referees and judges who were dismissed, and the matches that were tainted, would not be released because he did not want to “besmirch their families”. “It is of paramount importance to protect our sport and its R&J community whose integrity has been put into question”.
The Michael Conlan vs Vladimir Nikitin bout was so lopsided it left no doubt in anybody’s mind in deciding on a victor – except for the judges who are now the subject of controversy.
Evgeny Tishchenko’s heavyweight gold medal victory over Kazakhstan’s Vassiliy Levit perplexed many spectators while Michael Conlan’s shock exit to Russia’s Vladimir Nikitin made headline news.
If Nikitin couldn’t fight, Stevenson automatically would advance to Saturday’s gold medal fight, where he would face either Robeisy Ramirez Carrazana of Cuba or Uzbekistan’s Murodjon Akhmadaliev.
“Amateur boxing stinks – from the core right to the top!”
AIBA will not be reversing or changing any of the booted judges’ decisions, and the results of those fights will stand. Officials from both of the most high-profile disputed bouts were still working at the Olympics on Wednesday.
USA coach Billy Walsh, who is Irish, joined in the criticism after his light-welterweight Gary Russell missed out on a medal when a split decision went to Uzbekistan’s Fazliddin Gaibnazarov.
“There have been some very bad decisions and it leaves me baffled as to what they have been told to focus on”. What happened after that? The computer came into the equation.
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Walsh suggested that the Olympics may need to go back to a computerized system of judging. “But we stayed focused, we worked on the game plan, got there this morning and everybody was shaking his (Stevenson’s) hand and saying “congratulations, you move on to the next round”. It runs deep. We just don’t know where the head of the snake is”.
