The senior official who went public with fears of deep-rooted corruption in Olympic boxing has claimed a string of controversial decisions show it is “alive and well” and called for urgent action by Aiba, the amateur sport’s governing body, amid furious scenes around the ring in Rio.
“As predicted, the corruption is alive and well and the decisions speak for themselves. It is clear that Aiba will not do anything about this. It is time now for the IOC to step in,” said the source, insisting that amateur boxing is so rotten that only the removal of Aiba’s president, CK Wu, all of his administration and all of the officials at the Olympics would cut it out.
“President Wu needs to resign, as well as the executive director and the senior staff. Every RJ [referee and judge] and ITO [international technical official] needs to be suspended. That’s the only way it’s going to change.”
The latest intervention came after Ireland’s Michael Conlan accused Aiba, of corruption “from the core right to the top” after losing in the bantamweight quarter-finals to the Russian Vladimir Nikitin. “They’re fucking cheats,” he shouted into the ringside microphone. “They’re known for being cheats. Amateur boxing stinks from the core right to the top.”
Conlan added: “I’ll never box in this competition again. If people watch this Olympic Games and they see some of the decisions … I think boxing is dead. It’s about whoever pays the most money. Whoever has the biggest [influence] wins.”
On Monday night, there was widespread outrage after another Russian, the heavyweight Evgeny Tishchenko, beat Kazakhstan’s Vassiliy Levit to claim gold. Tishchenko was booed by the crowd after the decision.
The USA head coach, Billy Walsh, meanwhile, told the Guardian that he believed the contentious decisions had made it the worst Olympics since Roy Jones infamously lost a light-middleweight contest in 1988 that became a byword for scandal.
“We all wonder why we are out here working our socks off trying to get our guys ready. They give us the rules and we try to get our guys to adhere to those rules and then fight in that fashion and then we do and we don’t get it,” said Walsh. “It’s the worst games since 1988 when Roy Jones got robbed in the final.”
Walsh also claimed Uzbekistan’s boxers were being favoured. Another USA coach told the Guardian: “I’m starting to believe they are doing something. It’s disgusting.”
An Aiba spokesman said that while Walsh is a “credible character”, there was “no favouritism” towards particular national federations.
“That is something which we will have zero tolerance on at Aiba. But, again, Billy Walsh is a very credible character in the boxing world, so we respect him immensely. A bit disappointed by these comments that you are making me aware of but all I can assure is that’s not the case.”
It is understood some countries concerned about the judging are looking to convene an emergency meeting in Rio to discuss possible next steps.
With an unapologetic and emotional tirade on live television Conlan, the world champion in his division, stormed from the three-round bout like a wounded bull, the victim, he maintains, of a conspiracy against his country’s boxers. An Aiba spokesman said that it understood Conlan’s frustration but could not accept his accusations of impropriety. “I have noticed in my experience [since] I have been in the boxing world, when a boxer loses, he’s never happy, and he never really blames himself,” the spokesman said. “He always blames the organisation. If he wins, he never complains about the organisation.
“As we have always said, our guiding principle has always been, we have constant evaluation of our referees and judges of the bouts. We take appropriate action when need be. But, obviously we can’t accept foundless accusations which are hot off the ring. But again, this is not targeted towards Michael. We understand his initial disappointment. But we can’t accept the accusations he is making.”
The Guardian warned on the eve of the Games of deep-seated fears that bouts would be fixed, amid claims that the cheating is organised and systemic. While it is not unusual for defeated boxers and their camps to rail against the judges, the scale and vehemence of the complaints has given extra weight to the allegations made by a senior, well-placed source.
“When I went back to the corner after the first round I wasn’t even breathing heavy,” Conlan said. “My corner said: ‘You’ve done fantastic. You’ll win this easy.’”
Asked if he suspected beforehand he would be on the wrong end of poor judging, he said: “No, not at all. But after what happened to Katie [Taylor, a surprise loser the previous day and Ireland’s best chance for a medal], I thought: ‘That can’t happen to me, with the whole of Ireland watching.’
“And the Russian afterwards, he didn’t believe he won. I didn’t believe he won. The referee didn’t believe he won. I couldn’t think his corner believed he won. Then he reacted as if he’d won a gold medal. I was here for gold. It didn’t happen.”
Ireland’s sense of grievance was further fuelled by the decision that went against Taylor. Later, Conlan tweeted his fury to Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president: “Hey Vlad..How much did they charge you bro??’”
Amid the outrage from the Irish and US camps over decisions against their boxers, the Guardian has now been told by the same senior source that everything he has seen bears out his worst fears. He and others believe the cheating has got worse since the London Olympics and that it goes right to the heart of the administration.
It is alleged corrupt officials, directed to score bouts in a certain way for a variety of reasons, initially relied on hand or head signals to manipulate judges at the end of each round so they knew from which corner to select the winner.
But after being challenged at a number of major championships they are said to have changed their system, no longer relying on signals but meeting before major championships to decide on certain bouts.
“That is a serious allegation,” said the Aiba spokesman. “I really don’t like to comment on unnamed sources, because they could come from anywhere. All I can assure is Aiba takes all the precautionary measures in terms of safeguards to ensure there is no contact from the institutional side and the Aiba staff, and the actual R and J community. And that actually happens in the ring, as well in terms of the judging.
“I don’t know if you’re aware of how the judging system actually works – I’m sure you are – but all I can assure you – again I’m not going to comment on those specific allegations – but the safeguards are in place to ensure there is no direct contact between the relevant stakeholders who make those decisions.”
Aiba has defended its referees and judges, claiming that under the “10-points-must” scoring system introduced for these Games, in place of the old round-by-round scoring system for punches landed, the best boxer is rewarded. It said that it had reviewed the Tishchenko fight and ruled that the right boxer won.
The Aiba vice-president, Tom Virgets, told the Irish Times: “The governing body is satisfied that we have improved significantly in our refereeing and judging but that we always know that there is room for improvement. We are going to continue to implement the programmes throughout the next four years to ensure we are constantly raising the bar.”
It is alleged that other major championships, including those to qualify boxers for the Olympics, have also been fixed. Before the Games, Gary Antuanne Russell, a 64kg boxer for the USA, told the Guardian that a chaotic qualifying tournament in Baku was compromised. “Whoopins are universal, you don’t have to speak English to explain how somebody won or lost a fight. Let’s just say some countries watched other countries fight and were amazed at the decision-making.”
Tischenko said after his contentious bout that he didn’t know why he was booed. “I gave everything I had in all my bouts to earn the gold medal. I was whistled after the gong and I don’t know the reason for that,” he said. “But if people behave like this, then they have a reason to be like that.”
An Aiba spokesman told the Guardian earlier this month: “Since June 2015, Aiba has undertaken major governance changes ensuring the long-term development of our sport according to the requirements of our business and sport partners and for the benefits of the Aiba worldwide community.”