FORMER IRISH BOXING coach, Billy Walsh, now in charge of the United States boxing team, lashed out at the “crazy” judging at the Rio Olympics after an American medal hope crashed out on points on Monday.
The lightweight Mikaela Mayer suffered defeat in front of a mostly anti-American crowd to the Russian Anastasiia Beliakova, prompting an angry Walsh to say of his fighter: “She was excellent and I thought she did enough to win it.”
“To be honest, I am just having a look at the judging — it was crazy. Are they looking at the same bloody fight (as one another) or what?” asked the Irishman.
Advertisement
The official scorecard showed one of the judges made it level while two others gave the Russian the fight.
Mayer, 26, who saw the lightweight competition open up after reigning champion Katie Taylor suffered a stunning loss earlier in the day, was more circumspect and said she realised the result of the quarter-final clash was going to be a nail-biter.
It really hasn’t kicked in yet but definitely disappointed,” she said.
“I thought I might have pulled it off at the end but I also knew that it was close and this is boxing.
If you let a fight get that close, you never know who they are going to give it to.”
Olympic boxing has dumped the controversial punch-counting scoring method that threw up numerous controversies down the years in favour of a judging system like that used in pro men’s boxing.
Angry Billy Walsh savages 'crazy' boxing judging
FORMER IRISH BOXING coach, Billy Walsh, now in charge of the United States boxing team, lashed out at the “crazy” judging at the Rio Olympics after an American medal hope crashed out on points on Monday.
The lightweight Mikaela Mayer suffered defeat in front of a mostly anti-American crowd to the Russian Anastasiia Beliakova, prompting an angry Walsh to say of his fighter: “She was excellent and I thought she did enough to win it.”
“To be honest, I am just having a look at the judging — it was crazy. Are they looking at the same bloody fight (as one another) or what?” asked the Irishman.
The official scorecard showed one of the judges made it level while two others gave the Russian the fight.
Mayer, 26, who saw the lightweight competition open up after reigning champion Katie Taylor suffered a stunning loss earlier in the day, was more circumspect and said she realised the result of the quarter-final clash was going to be a nail-biter.
“I thought I might have pulled it off at the end but I also knew that it was close and this is boxing.
Olympic boxing has dumped the controversial punch-counting scoring method that threw up numerous controversies down the years in favour of a judging system like that used in pro men’s boxing.
Hotline Rings: Rio 2016 / SoundCloud
© AFP, 2016
Additional reporting by Paul Fennessy
The42 is on Snapchat! Tap the button below on your phone to add!
Annalise Murphy will be guaranteed a medal if the sailing is cancelled again tomorrow>
Diver Oliver Dingley advances to semi-final of men’s 3m springboard>
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Anastasiia Beliakova Billy Walsh Criticism Mikaela Mayer Olympics Rio 2016 team ireland Team USA