On Tuesday the Belfast boxer said his Olympic dream had “been robbed”.
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Irish bantamweight world champion Michael Conlan also complained vociferously and profanely after his quarterfinal loss to Russia’s Vladimir Nikitin on Tuesday, accusing AIBA and Russian Federation of wholesale corruption. AIBA responded by reviewing the questionable matches and then booting quite a few of the boxing judges and referees, no doubt hoping their action will suppress some of the anger now swirling around Rio Olympic boxing.
Former Irish boxing judge Kelly told the Guardian newspaper that he had previously been asked to cheat by indicating who was winning during the fight.
Olympic boxing’s governing body AIBA has announced that it has expelled a “handful” of referees and judges involved in controversial decisions during the Rio Games.
As a result, “It has been decided by the AIBA R and J (referees and judges) commission that the concerned referees and judges will no longer officiate at the Rio 2016 Olympics”.
Irish world champion bantamweight Michael Conlan went on an expletive-laden rant on live television after losing to Russian Vladimir Nikitin.
Five officials judge each bout and a computer randomly selects three whose scores are counted.
Conlan was convinced he defeated Nikitin, a Russian, but the decision went 3-0 against him. The decision to let the results stand without further investigation will not make the affected boxers feel any better.
In a statement, the AIBA did not give the names of the judges and referees who were removed for fear that it would “besmirch their families”.
“We would like to strongly restate that unless tangible proof is put forward, not rumours, we will continue to use any means, including legal or disciplinary actions, to protect our sport and its R&J community whose integrity is constantly put into question”. “I believe the whole system of amateur boxing at the minute is – Olympic boxing especially – is stinking”. In spite of their understanding, numerous boxing coaches were glad AIBA had booted the boxing judges responsible for the most egregious scoring results.
Although AIBA did not mention any specific bouts in taking action against the unsatisfactory decisions, it would come as no surprise if one of them was the decision that stripped away a chance at a medal for Michael Conlan of Ireland.
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That’s despite the Irish and worldwide media and boxing community believing that they had watched a bout which clearly looked Conlan had won.
