Olympic boxing officials removed after cheating accusations in Rio

On Tuesday, Irish boxer Michael Conlan gave a profanity-laced interview after losing to Russian boxer Vladimir Nikitin, accusing the amateur boxing federation of fixing the fight. He may have been right. On Wednesday, several boxing judges and referees were removed from the Olympics after officials reviewed all 239 bouts through Tuesday and “determined that less than a handful of the decisions were not at the level expected.”

Conlan was explicit, flipping off officials after his quarterfinal bout with Nikitin and calling AIBA, the Amateur International Boxing Association, “fucking cheats.” Statistical analysis indicated that Conlan likely should have won the fight, but judges unanimously gave all three rounds to Nikitin.

Conlan later tweeted directly at Russian president Vladimir Putin and accused the world leader of paying off the judges in Rio.

Conlan wasn’t the only person to lose to a Russian fighter in a controversial bout, as the New York Times points out:

On Monday, the crowd jeered when another Russian fighter, Evgeny Tishchenko, was awarded a unanimous decision over Vassiliy Levit of Kazakhstan, who appeared to have won the bout handily.

The decision in the Tishchenko-Levit fight was made by judges from Algeria, Colombia and Ireland. Judges from Brazil, Poland and Sri Lanka were working Conlan’s quarterfinal bout.

In a statement, the AIBA did not give the names of the judges and referees who were removed for fear that it would “besmirch their families.” The association also did not say how many fights were tainted. None of the results will be overturned.

Conlan was a bronze medalist as a 20-year-old flyweight fighter at the 2012 London Olympics, and was coming off a 2015 bantamweight world amateur title. Nikitin’s best result on the international level was a silver medal as a bantamweight during the 2013 World Amateur Championships.

Nikitin advances to face American Shakur Stevenson in the bantamweight semifinals Thursday. With a trip to the final on the line, the world will be watching to see if the sport is any cleaner after Wednesday’s purge.