‘Simply Wrong'

AIBA finds a new way to resurrect an old problem with Britain’s Frazer Clarke the victim.

- John Dennen

THERE will be contentious results in amateur boxing. After all, in a major tournament made of up of hundreds of three-round bouts, each contested by two top-level boxers, there will be close calls. Equally there have been famously bad decisions.

Roy Jones in Korea is the prime example but the 2016 Olympics notoriously was littered with poor officiating. The pressure is on AIBA, the amateur sport’s governing body, to address these concerns.

Yet a new example of its old problem was on full display at the AIBA men’s World championships in Russia last week. British superheavyweight Frazer Clarke boxed Russia’s Maksim Babanin in the quarter-final and, after a closely fought bout, was announced a split decision victor. Beating the Russian in Russia was quite a feat in itself and provided the GB boxing team with their fourth guaranteed medal at these championships.

Or at least it should have. It emerged later that night that the Russian team had lodged a protest, which had been accepted and then seen the result of the contest overturned.