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AIBA reassigns executive director after judging probe

There was uproar when his Russian opponent Vladimir Nikitin was awarded the win by unanimous decision.

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“Consequently, the operational responsibilities for the remainder of the Olympic Boxing Competition will now fall under the responsibilities of the most senior Vice President of the AIBA Executive Board, Mr Franco Falcinelli, president of the European Boxing Confederation”.

The AIBA said in a statement that “less than a handful” of the first 239 bouts had been deemed incompetently judged or refereed.

Russian bantamweight Vladimir Nikitin will not box American Shakur Stevenson after being left bloodied by Conlan. AIBA picks five judges to work each bout and prohibits judges from a fighter’s country, or from a country in conflict with a fighter’s country, from working a bout.

Aiba have strongly denied the allegations of corruption, with “no tangible proof” of match-fixing. Although many interpreted it as a reference to Michael O’Reilly’s failed drugs test, but he was actually referring to the Kelly controversy.

Despite the Kazakh having appeared to dominate the bout, the three judges found in favour of Tischenko, and the decision was met with boos and jeers from the predominantly Brazilian crowd.

The withdrawal did not surprise the US camp, with coach Billy Walsh quoted on Wednesday evening as saying the Russian’s face was “a mess” from cuts sustained during the Conlan fight and two tough bouts before that. “How much did they charge you bro?”. They’ll always be cheats.

Other fighters also entered the ring anxious about fairness after the heavyweight title fight and Conlan’s loss to Nikitin, who bled profusely from a cut on his scalp from a previous fight.

Indeed, amateur boxing is a notoriously hard sport to score with its three-round fights and wide variations in skill sets.

Aiba has recently changed from a system in which judges press a button to record a punch to a more interpretive system where a round-winner is handed 10 points and the loser is given a lesser number based on punches, aggression and tactics.

“I haven’t seen it as bad since then”, he said noting that judges can be “very, very subjective”.

Walsh suggested that the Olympics may need to go back to a computerized system of judging.

The coaches reportedly said his face had been damaged in the two fights against Conlan and in the last-16 fight against a Thai boxer, report the Irish Mirror.

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The federation chooses from a pool of 36 judges and referees (all judges also work as referees and vice versa) at the Rio Games. All five judges’ scores are entered after a fight, and a computer randomly selects three of them to determine the final victor.

Olympic boxing judges