So, just like professional boxing, then?
Olympic judges and referees came under fire on Wednesday with one fighter accusing them of “a fix”, another successfully appealing a loss and even boxing great Lennox Lewis questioning some of their calls.
Iran’s Ali Mazaheri cried foul when the heavyweight was disqualified after being warned three times for persistent holding against Cuban Jose Larduet Gomez despite leading by two points going into the second round.
“It was a fix. I could have got a bronze easily if it hadn’t been for that,” an irate Mazaheri, who walked out of the ring before the decision was officially announced, told reporters through a translator.
“In my previous fights I had done really well. It was a set up.”
The International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA) responded to Mazaheri’s allegations in an email to Reuters, saying: “The Iranian boxer received three warnings during his bout.
“According to Rule 12.2.1 of the AIBA Technical & Competition Rules, ‘only three warnings may be given to the same boxer in one contest. The third warning brings automatic disqualification’.”
Two bouts earlier, Japan’s bantamweight Satoshi Shimizu, trailing by seven points going into the last round against Magomed Abdulhamidov, knocked the Azerbaijani down six times, the first of which he struggled to get up from.
The judges scored the round 10–10, handing Shimizu two extra points for a warning against Abdulhamidov, who propped himself up against the top rope as the referee raised his hand in victory.
Where’s Don King when you need him?