Controversy Surrounds Olympic Boxing

Do you remember when the Olympics used to be about being the best? Winning based on ability and skill? Me neither.

More controversy has come out of the Olympics as of late, not in swimming, not in badminton, but this time in boxing. The match of interest was between Japanese boxer Satoshi Shimizu and Azerbaijan's Magomed Abdulhamidov. The match was controversial due to the match being called in favor of Abdulhamidov, who was knocked to the ground six times in the last round of the match, which should have been called after he went to the ground three times according to AIBA rules.

Granted Abdulhamidov dominated the first two rounds of the match, he still lost on technicality no matter how one attempts to look at score.

After the match Shimizu said, "I was shocked by the final scores. He fell down so many times. Why didn't I win? I don't understand." He also added that, "I did do my best. I performed really well. England is the place of boxing and the spectators supported me so well so I am very pleased about that."

After the match, Japan challenged the results and the AIBA released a statement stating that,

"After reviewing the video of Bout #105 involving Bantamweights Satoshi Shimizu (Japan) and Magomed Abdulhamidov (Azerbaijan), the Competition Jury made the following decision:

"The boxer from Azerbaijan fell down six times during the 3rd round. According to our rules, the Referee should have counted at least three times. In this case, following the AIBA Technical & Competition Rules, the decision should have been RSC (Referee Stop Contest); Therefore the protest lodged by the Japanese corner is accepted and the result of this bout overturned."

The AIBA are now considering whether to sanction the referee of the bout.