Following a week of controversy over questionable judging, the International Boxing Association (AIBA) has reassigned its top dog.
On Thursday, AIBA said executive director Karim Bouzidi was assigned to a new role within the organization.
This comes after a number of referees and judges were dismissed for their controversial decisions in a series of bouts during this year’s Olympics.
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In a statement, AIBA said the decision came Wednesday after determining that “less than a handful” of Olympic bouts had been incompetently officiated.
Boxing Canada president Pat Fiacco said the suspicious judging had resulted in two Canadian athletes losing their bouts.
On Sunday, both Arthur Biyarslanov lost his fight against Germany’s Artem Harutyunyana and Ariane Fortin lost her boxing match against Kazakhstan’s Dariga Shakimova.
The former Olympic judge said the two bouts should have been declared wins.
“I looked at those bouts 20 times, and there’s no way those two lost their bouts,” Fiacco said.
“It’s either incompetency or foul play.”
Boxing Canada is calling for a full review, saying there are many unanswered questions.
“Why did these judges decide to judge the bout the way they did? Were they given direction from someone else to do that?” he asked.
“So there’s a lot of work that needs to be done.”
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Fiacco said the losses may mean reduced funding for Canadian athletes in the future.
“Own the Podium provides funding based on medals, and we had high hopes,” he said
“They performed extremely well. No one is saying they really lost their bouts, nobody.”
Fiacco said it’s the beginning of a long process in determining what really happened regarding those decisions.
“What we have to do moving forward is to put measurements in place to ensure it doesn’t happen again. It’s not an easy task,” Fiacco said.
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Olympic hopeful Jaxson Burns of Regina said it was disappointing to see clear winners not be declared the victor.
“I think it’s really unfair to all the people who put in the hours to get just cheated out of a win,” Burns said.
The 14-year-old trains for two hours every two days. He said his dream is to represent Canada in the Olympics.
“My goal to eventually get to the Olympics whether that be in 2020 or 2024, but I would love to go there,” Burns said.
His coach and Regina Boxing Club President George Goff said the road to the Olympics is a long, but an obtainable one.
“He’s a young individual.. and it does take time probably three to four years,” Goff said.
“He’s one that’s very dedicated, he’s one that does listen, very coachable.”
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Despite the long road ahead, Burns said he will continue to hone his boxing skills. He said that if and when he can compete in the Olympics, corruption won’t be an issue.
“I want to say I’m the best at my game,” he said.
With files from Canadian Press.
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