Following the quarterfinal match in the bantamweight division where Conlan left his opponent Vladimir Nikitin of Russian Federation bloodied and bruised, the judges ruled that Nikitin would advance much to the chagrin of Conlan. He then accused the International Boxing Association of being cheats in an interview with Irish TV station RTE Sport.
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The Russian bantamweight who defeated Michael Conlan in controversial circumstances in the Olympic boxing quarter-final will not fight for a place in the final in Rio, according to reports.
It is the second disputed win of the tournament for Nikitin, after he squeezed through the round of 16 bout over the Thai fighter Chatchai Butdee.
Conlan tweeted in reaction to the AIBA move: “Wow this says a lot about AIBA, sending judges home who ruin dreams, what happens to the people whose dream were ruined?” They’ll always be cheats.
Little Finn McManus, 5, wrote a heartwarming letter to the boxer after he lost his Olympic bout yesterday, and offered him a gold medal he won at school. I want you to have my school medal because you are a victor.
Conlan claimed that not only did he feel something underhand was at play in his defeat this week at the Olympics, but he also feels that Paddy Barnes, Joe Ward and Katie Taylor should have won their bouts.
Since the boxing events commenced at the Rio Olympics, observers said there were a number of questionable results that had drawn protests from competitors, coaches and the media.
On Tuesday the Belfast boxer said his Olympic dream had “been robbed”. Immediately after the decision was announced, Conlan flipped off the judges. They’re fucking cheats, as simple as that.
“I will never box an AIBA competition again”. But this received significant attention considering a 2011 BBC report that indicated it had found evidence Azerbaijan had paid $9 million to an global boxing organization for guaranteed gold medals.
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AIBA responded with a spokesperson stating: “Michael is a current world champion and he came here with high expectations”.
