– Niall Kelly reports from Rio de Janeiro
BY TUESDAY NIGHT, Michael Conlan was making headlines all across the world.
That was always his intention in these Olympic Games. It should have been for very different reasons.
“Irish Fighter Accuses Amateur Boxing Body of Being Corrupt” was the headline in the New York Times — which, considering Conlan’s comments, was putting things mildly.
“They’re fucking cheats,” he fumed after the judges somehow ruled his bantamweight quarter-final against Vladimir Nikitin as a unanimous decision in the Russian’s favour.
“It’s simple as that. That’s me. I’ll never box for AIBA again. They’re cheating bastards. They’re paying everybody.”
Conlan’s tirade led coverage in the UK and Australia as well as in America. Hardly surprising when this was just the latest entry in a mounting book of worrying questions which must be addressed by the sport’s governing body.
On the eve of the Rio Games, the Guardian published a damning report which alleged widespread corruption at the heart of amateur boxing with the outcome of fights being predetermined. It quoted an Irish judge, Seamus Kenny, who went on the record and said that he had been asked to cheat at the 2011 Arab Games.
As the latest controversy erupted, an AIBA spokesperson was quick to dismiss Conlan’s comments as heat-of-the-moment disappointment.
“AIBA is striving for a fair, level playing field,” the official said. “The idea is not to benefit one country towards another. These statements are foundless but he’s free to have his opinion.”
The statistics lent weight to the Irish camp’s claim, showing that while Niktin might have just edged the first round, the second and third clearly belonged to the Belfast boxer.
Ears were pricked less than 24 hours earlier when another Russian, Evgeny Tishchenko, was somehow awarded the heavyweight gold medal after a fight in which he too appeared to have been convincingly outboxed by his opponent, Vassiliy Levit of Kazakhstan.
One of the scoring judges at ringside in that bout, it should be noted, was the respected Irish referee, Michael Gallagher from Tyrone.
And allegations of impropriety continued to overshadow the Olympic tournament following Conlan’s defeat on Tuesday, fancied American light-middleweight Gary Russell losing his medal bout against Uzbekistan’s Fazliddin Gaibnazarov.
“He got robbed. This is fucked up,” his father, Gary Sr, raged.
Billy Walsh, now Team USA head coach, had branded judging ‘crazy‘ as he watched another of his fighters, Mikaela Meyer, lose to Anastasia Beliakova — of Russia.
After Russell’s defeat, he took another shot. “(Uzbekistan) are winning everything. Even when you beat them you can’t beat them.”
“You hear rumours around,” Irish coach Eddie Bolger said as he weighed in in the aftermath of Conlan’s fight.
You hear whispers that there’s names already on the medals. You don’t want to be that naive to think that’s happening but it’s hard not to.
‘Bewildering’ was one of the words Bolger used.
“I’ve been to every major tournament in the world,” he added. “No bums on seats. Nobody goes to watch this because you can’t fool the public all the time.
“And it’s an insult to fool anybody who is a boxing fan and to try and tell them, ‘No, you’re wrong, this guy won this fight’.
“So they won’t come and it’s very sad, it’s said for the Olympics and it’s sad for people who work so hard.”
A livid John Conlan, Michael’s father, was just as quick to take the Irish media corps to task.
“You don’t need us to put words in your mouth. You guys all went to university. We didn’t.
You’ve all spent four, five years to become fucking writers or whatever it is. Do your job. Tell the truth.
“He’s gutted, absolutely gutted.”
That much was evident as his 24-year-old son stood bare-chested, red vest in hand, his shattered dream in pieces around him. “AIBA are killing people’s lifelong work,” Michael said, reiterating the point.
On his stomach, a tattoo of the five Olympic rings. It symbolised happier times in London four years ago and the promise of even greater things to come in Rio this summer; in an instant, its meaning changed forever.
“It’s completely dead,” he added. “If you watch this Olympic Games and you’ve seen some of the decisions, Olympic boxing is dead.
“It’s whoever pays the most money, whoever has the biggest wins.”
“One thing’s for sure, I’ll not be boxing in AIBA competition again,” Conlan said, the pro game beckoning. “(Not) if they offered me five million to box in APB.”
The words eventually ran dry, as if he realised that no amount of incandescent rage would salve his pain.
An outburst heard around the world, perhaps, but one likely to find deaf ears where it matters most.
