The world governing body for amateur boxing the AIBA suspends judges and refs who were part of the 2016 Olympics.
The moves comes today as an announcement was made that all 36 officials in total have been suspended while an investigation is pending surrounding alleged issues of corruption during the boxing officiating at the games.
With the officials now stood down, it is expected that an extensive investigation could take a number of months before their fate is known.
During this year’s Olympics massive controversy was caused around judging decisions that the wider public were disgusted by, most notably perhaps to Irish boxer Michael Conlan.
Conlan was quoted after the decision at the time saying that he would never boxing again for the AIBA and that they were “cheating b******” and that amateur boxing “stinks to the core.”
Indeed, the Irish was true to his word at least in the sense that he would not box for the organisation again, as he recently signed a massive deal with US promoters Top Rank that will see him make his professional debut in Madison Square Garden next year on St Patrick’s day.
Some will say this decision to suspend the officials and investigate them comes as too little too late however, with the bulk of the damage done beyond repair already to those affected.
Time will tell what the investigation discovers.
It could take quite some time tough, as all of the officials involved in boxing at the Olympics are in question, so there will be a lot of international meetings going on over the coming months one would suspect during this process.
There is no doubt that after the recent Olympics amateur boxing is still left with a very bitter taste in it’s mouth. Hopefully justice will be served pending whatever the outcome is of this investigation.
(Image source and credit: Top Rank Twitter)
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