In Ireland, outrage was unanimous following the larceny of what was rightfully Michael Conlan's on Tuesday afternoon. A place in an Olympic semi-final and at least another bronze medal should have been his.
Disgraceful judging decisions influenced by individuals Conlan called 'cheaters' meant he was eliminated from the Games and left empty-handed.
Still, in the eyes of Irish fans, he is a champion.
Coverage of the controversial result was not restricted to just Ireland. It is an Olympic Games, disgust has been felt internationally.
The Michael Conlan story is quickly gathering traction on US/international media. This from the New York Times: https://t.co/i9qlqsYUsz
— Esther McCarthy (@Esthermccarthy) August 16, 2016
In his column for Independent.co.uk respected boxing pundit Steve Bunce lamented the loss of the appeals process, which he feels would have led to the decision being overturned.
At the Olympics in London there was an appeal process for disputed fights, but it has been scrapped and I truly believe that the Conlan verdict would have been overturned on appeal if the option was still available.
Bunce was also on BBC yesterday. He called the decisions suffered by Conlan on Tuesday and Vasily Levit in the heavyweight final on Monday night 'wrong'.
What happened to Conlan and Levit is heartbreaking and wrong.
After 200-odd bouts and 11 days of boxing, we have seen two absolute stinkers.
Appeals were dropped for this tournament and that creates a bit of a problem. At least two decisions would have been appealed and overturned.
They are semi-isolated but we are in the medal stages - that's when the judges start going crazy.
Immediately after the fight on BBC Four, former middleweight champion Richie Woodhall said that he was 'speechless' regarding the result (video here).
I can't see how they've come to that decision. It wasn't a close contest at all. You can tell by the Russian's face.
It's sad because we'll lose Conlan to the pro game now.
Ring Magazine described what happened to Conlan as the continuation of a 'worrying trend'.
Ireland’s Michael Conlan didn’t just vocally give the finger to AIBA’s judges after his controversial loss to Russia’s Vladimir Nikitin in the bantamweight quarterfinals on Tuesday that continued a worrying trend of questionable decisions in Rio.
The tournament’s top-ranked bantamweight actually gave them the finger as he left the ring, extending his arms and offering a double-barrel salute in both directions after he lost a unanimous decision.
The BBC report of the fight did not condemn the decision. Instead, they offered an opinion that Conlan had been the better fighter throughout.
Conlan appeared to do the better work in the opening round but all three judges gave it on a 10-9 scoreline to 2013 world championship silver medallist Nikitin.
The Belfast bantamweight looked to have the momentum after taking round two 10-9 on all three cards.
And he seemed to be producing the cleaner work as the fight turned into a brawl, but Nikitin was given the verdict by all the judges.
On Twitter, revered boxing commentator Al Bernstein said, like virtually everyone else, that Conlan had been robbed.
Feel bad for Irish boxer Michael Conlan, who got robbed in Olympic match. @AIBA_Boxing judges strike again
— Al Bernstein (@AlBernstein) August 16, 2016
Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
