By Ian S Palmer
There are several noticeable difference when it comes to amateur and professional boxing, such as the shirts, and headgear. However, when it comes to controversy, they’re both equal. It seems that ever since Roy Jones Jr. got ripped off for a gold medal in Seoul, South Korea back in 1988 that Olympic boxing’s possibly been just as corrupt or inept as the professional version.
This year’s been no exception with several controversies raging in London, England during the Summer Games’ boxing tournament. One referee has been sent home already with another one suspended. Also, one fight decision was turned over after an appeal and another appeal is still pending.
A referee named Ishanguly Meretnyyazov from the nation of Turkmenistan was kicked out of the Games by the AIBA, boxing’s world amateur commission, on Aug. 2 for his handling of a match between The organization also suspended referee Frank Scharmach of Germany for a total of five days after he decided to disqualify a heavyweight from Iran in a bout and a technical official named Aghajan Abiyev, who hails from Azerbaijan, was also expelled.
C.K. Wu, who is the president of the AIBA, said he regrets having to hand out these punishments, but he needs to make sure that the fair play and integrity of amateur boxing is upheld at all times. He added that he’ll do whatever’s necessary to make sure this happens.
Meretnyyazov was in charge of a bantamweight fight between Azerbaijan’s Magomed Abdulhamidov and Japan’s Satoshi Shimizu on Aug. 1. During the fight Abdulhamidov hit the deck six times in the last round, mostly out of exhaustion, but the referee kept allowing him to get up and recover while he adjusted his headgear. When the decision was announced, he won the fight by a score of 22-17.
The Japanese contingent wasn’t too happy with this and they launched an appeal. Surprisingly, they won it after the AIBA changed the result and gave the fight to Shimizu. The boxing organization said that the referee should have counted at least three knockdowns in the third round and the bout should have been halted.
In another controversial fight, heavyweight Ali Mazaheri of Iran was disqualified during his contest against Jose Larduet of Cuba after referee Scharmach warned him for holding. Scharmach then outraged the Iranian when he called the fight off halfway through the second round. The crowd booed and Mazaheri ripped off his head gear and tossed it before leaving the ring without shaking hands with his opponent. Mazaheri then claimed the fight was fixed. Even though the referee was suspended, the result stands and Mazaheri’s hope of a medal are over.
Another appeal was launched on Aug. 2 after Anthony Ogogo of Britain defeated Ukraine’s Ievgen Khytrov, who is the reigning world amateur middleweight champion. The final scoring in the bout was 18-18 so there was a count back on the scoring and it ended up even again at 52-52. The five judges were then asked to vote for the winner and they gave it to Ogogo. Khytrov’s team then launched an appeal and the fight will be reviewed by the AIBA.
