Sport

Michael Conlan and Joe Joyce’s hopes of a 2016 Olympic medal upgrade recede

Report says subjective nature of scoring system makes it impossible to prove bouts were predetermined

Ireland’s Michael Conlan shows his disgust after he was judged to have lost his quarter-final against Russia’s Vladimir Nikitin at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Photograph: Christian Petersen/Getty Images

Sean Ingle
Fri Dec 10 2021 - 18:39

Michael Conlan and Joe Joyce's hopes of a 2016 Olympic medal upgrade have receded after the man tasked with investigating corruption in boxing said that proving which fights were fixed in Rio remained "elusive".

In the second of three reports into Aiba, amateur boxing’s governing body, Professor Richard McLaren said he had no doubts that there had been “significant” and “rampant” bout manipulation in Rio, with referees and judges discussing results beforehand.

However, the subjective nature of boxing’s scoring system and “the fact that the predetermined result was often the correct result”, meant it was hard to prove the specific fights involved beyond reasonable doubt.

In October, McLaren had indicated that Joyce’s super-heavyweight final defeat against France’s Tony Yoka, and Conlan’s loss in his bantamweight quarter-final against the Russian Vladimir Nikitin, were among 11 bouts being investigated. That led both Joyce and Conlan to tentatively hope they could get upgraded to a gold and bronze medal respectively.

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But on Friday, McLaren said that despite reviewing 77 bouts, his team had been unable to figure out a methodology “that would allow us to be confident to meet the legal standard in order to discipline a person who would have been engaged in bout manipulation”.

“The officiating in boxing is highly subjective as there are no real benchmarks by which to evaluate the bouts,” he added. “So while we tried a number of different methodologies so we could declare a bout was manipulated, we concluded that it’s not possible to do that to the level to bring disciplinary action in the sport.”

McLaren was able to find more evidence of corruption in other areas of the sport as recently as the World Junior Boxing Championships in Poland in April. McLaren also cited the behaviour of the deputy supervisor at the World Junior Boxing Championships in St Petersburg in 2016, who he said had pressured referees and judges to score in favour of certain countries.

“A number of witnesses expressed fear about speaking out against corruption,” said McLaren. “One said he would be dead.” McLaren also revealed that the former executive director Karim Bouzidi, who had led the scheme to manipulate judges in Rio, had continued to have influence in the sport even after leaving Aiba. – Guardian

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