Share

Rio 2016: New official takes charge of boxing

The boxing judges at the 2016 Rio Olympics have been booted by worldwide boxing’s governing body, AIBA.

Advertisement

“Best boxers should meet at the Olympics”.

In a statement, the organization addressed the dismissal of the judges and referees.

Earlier in the day amateur boxing s world governing body said it had sent home an undisclosed number of officials after “less than a handful of decisions not at the level expected”.

“AIBA will not shy away from its responsibilities and is fully committed…”

Several referees and judges have been removed from the Olympic boxing competition after officials reviewed several of their decisions, fuelling suspicion of dubious results in some matches at the Rio Games. Five judges score each fight, but a computer randomly throws out two of the scores.

Russian heavyweight Evgeny Tishchenko’s victory over Kazakh power-puncher Vassiliy Levit sparked a wide public outcry over the decision, which rewarded Tishchenko’s retreat over Levit’s power and excitement.

Russian bantamweight Vladimir Nikitin defeated Conlan in highly controversial circumstances in the Olympic quarterfinal but will not fight for a place in the final, according to reports. Conlan ripped off his vest, made obscene gestures at the ringside judges and then denounced AIBA and Russian Federation as conspirators in corruption. The judges in Conlan’s match came from Poland, Brazil, and Sri Lanka.

Throughout the fight, she was always on me, saying to me “Keep your head up, Conlan, keep your head up. one more and I’m going to warn you”.

That too proved controversial, with United States light-flyweight favorite Eric Griffin losing out to local man Rafael Lozano in Barcelona in 1992 because the judges had not reacted fast enough to register many of his blows.

Despite the controversy, AIBA said there was no possibility of overturning the results of any of the bouts concerned.

Coaches at the boxing venue Wednesday said that the scoring system left a lot of room for interpretation and that the judges, although well trained, were not infallible.

The post-Olympics 2016 scrutiny of amateur boxing as a whole will no doubt be under an intensive, beaming spotlight.

Shakur Stevenson has had a relatively smooth path through the Olympics so far, beating his first two opponents by unanimous decision.

“People go to a gymnastics meet and they understand what a 15.33 score means”, he said.

Advertisement

THE AIBA has announced that it can has dropped a number of judges in the wake of Irish boxer Michael Conlan branding them “cheating b******s”.

Russia's Yevgeny Tishchenko and Kazakhstan's Vassiliy Levit during an Olympic match which Tishchenko won in a disputed decision