Olympic Boxing Corruption?

Jeboa Safari

Dunno if any of you are following the boxing at the olympics, but there were two dodgy matches today. First was in the bantamweight, an Azeri (Abdulhamidov) against a Japanese (Shimizu) boxer. Abdulhamidov won the first two rounds, but in the third round Shimizu absolutely hammered him. The Azeri could hardly stand and was on the floor several times but the ref did nothing. At the end of the round, Shimizu was celebrating with the crowd chanting his name, but the result went against him, saying he won only 12-10 in the final round. The crowd was disgusted, booing the result and after cheering Shimizu as he left the arena.

The second fight was an Iranian (Mazaheri) against a Cuban (Larduet) in the heavyweights. Mazaheri was disqualified in the second round after being warned 3 times for seemingly very little (he was 6-4 ahead after round one). The crowd was again disgusted, Mazaheri couldn't understand it and refused to stand with the ref for the result. He shook hands with the Cuban corner before leaving, with the crowd cheering him.


Whats interesting about the first case, is that in 2011 the BBC uncovered a secret payment from the Azerbaijan federation to the World Series Boxing, with allegations that the money was handed over in return for ensuring boxing success for Azeri boxers at the Olympics, which can be read here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-15020658


What do people think, dodgy officiating or just extremely poor?

dlofnep

If you want to see a robbery in Olympic boxing, look no further than Roy Jones Jr. getting robbed of a gold medal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJYBV9BXQNY

Jeboa Safari

dlofnep wrote: »

If you want to see a robbery in Olympic boxing, look no further than Roy Jones Jr. getting robbed of a gold medal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJYBV9BXQNY

That was blatant alright, the decision should have been overturned

Logical_Bear

fuk the boxing watch the Badminton...professionals serving low and hittin the nets.....

Jonny7

Yeah the badminton is a disagrace, teams have been manipulating the round robin so as not to meet certain other teams in the next round

freyners

http://www.irishtimes.com/sports/other/2012/0802/1224321313122.html

japanese boxer appealed and is now deemed the winner

Jeboa Safari

Jonny7 wrote: »

Yeah the badminton is a disagrace, teams have been manipulating the round robin so as not to meet certain other teams in the next round

Good to see them disqualified at least

freyners wrote: »

http://www.irishtimes.com/sports/other/2012/0802/1224321313122.html

japanese boxer appealed and is now deemed the winner

Only right, the third round was a farce. They're investigating how the referee and judges could have come to that result, possibly going to take action

Jeboa Safari

Big hometown decision for Ogogo earlier too, RTE lads were openly saying they hope Katie Taylor avoids the British girl because the judging won't be fair.

Probably more bias/pressure than malice though, compared to the previous fights anyway

Sonics2k

Not so much a conspiracy theory really, just more along the lines of corruption.

Boxing, especially, has always been rife with corruption and match fixing. I am happy that the decision was over-turned, because Shimizu deserved the win.

Jeboa Safari

More controversy tonight, another one of the fights involving an Azeri. Didn't see these fights, but from another site:

Teymur Mammadov (Azerbaijan) def. Siarhei Karneyeu (Belarus), 19-19 - countback: This was as big a travesty as we've seen so far. Mammadov, who is rated No. 1 in the world in AIBA's useless rankings, was awful in round one and awful here. You can expect a protest. And given the Azerbaijan involvement, expect extra attention on said protest, if it happens. Horrible refereeing and scoring.

Clemente Russo (Italy) def. Jose Larduet (Cuba), 12-10: Well, I was numbed. But then it just kept going. And going. And we got to THIS travesty, where the farcical Russo held upwards of 3,000 times in the fight, was never docked for it, and the referee somehow managed to get on Larduet's case. The referee should have been honest and worn a blindfold. He could have sat in a chair in the corner for all the difference he made, allowing Russo to make this the worst fight of the entire Olympics.

After the fight, Karneyeu of Belarus came out and raised Larduet's hand. That was a sight to see. They were both jobbed by unbelievably bad officiating. Greg Beachem reports that Cuba will protest and if there is ANY justice, Larduet will move on. Russo should have been disqualified -- forget just two warnings making a point difference.

Also the Turkmen referee from the previous fight and an Azeri technical official were expelled from the Olympics after the Wednesday fight

profitius

There was controversy before the olympics started when the talented Joe Ward lost to a Turkish fighter in Turkey.