UPDATE:AIBA removes boxing judges from remainder of Olympics
RIO DE JANEIRO — The International Boxing Association (AIBA), the federation that runs amateur boxing, released a statement Wednesday in which it said some judges have been removed from the remainder of the Olympics because their scoring wasn’t up to standards.
On Monday, Evgeny Tishchenko of Russia won the heavyweight gold medal by a unanimous decision, with judges scoring the fight with Kazakhstan’s Vassiliy Levit 29-28 on all cards.
That was probably the worst score of the tournament. Judges in that bout were Michael Gallagher, Armando Carbonell Alvarado and Kheira Sidi Yakoub.
There were two controversial bouts on Tuesday. American light welterweight Gary Russell lost to Uzbekistan’s Fazliddin Gaibnararov, though Gaibnararov ran the last two rounds and was warned numerous times for failing to engage.
Gaibnararov won a split decision. Judges Roland Juhasz and Kestutis Bagdanavicius favored Gaibnararov 29-28, while Enrico Licini had it 29-28 for Russell.
And in an outcome that caused Irish bantamweight Michael Conlan to angrily tweet at Russian president Vladimir Putin, judges awarded Vladimir Nikitin a 29-28 unanimous decision win.
Conlan gave double middle fingers to the judges in the ring and then accused Putin of a bribe later via Twitter.
Judges in the Conlan-Nikitin fight were Jones Kennedy Silva do Rosario, Udeni Talik Bandara Kiridena and Mariusz Gorny.
Though there were numerous allegations of corruption, AIBA’s statement said it backed its officials but would review credible evidence.
“With regard to corruption, we would like to strongly restate that unless tangible proof is put forward, not rumors, 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,” the statement said. “The organization will not be deterred by subjective judgments made by discontented parties. We welcome all parties to come forward and provide evidence in order to take appropriate and immediate action.”
There were other fights in which there was outrage over the scoring, particularly in reigning gold medalist Katie Taylor’s loss Monday to Mira Potkonen, but none of them rose to the level of Tishchenko-Levit, Russell-Gaibnararov or Conlan-Nikitin.
Man these Olympics have to be the worst games of all time