Boxing at the 2012 Summer Olympics

Boxing at the Games of the XXX Olympiad
Venue	ExCeL Exhibition Centre
Dates	28 July – 12 August
Competitors	286 (250 men, 36 women)

ExCeL Exhibition Centre, the venue for the boxing at the 2012 Olympic Games.

The boxing tournaments at the 2012 Olympic Games in London were held from 28 July to 12 August at the ExCeL Exhibition Centre.

A total of 286 competitors took part in 13 events. For the first time at an Olympic Games, women competed in three boxing events. The first Olympic gold medal in women's boxing was awarded to Nicola Adams from Great Britain, who won the flyweight tournament on 9 August 2012. Great Britain topped the overall boxing medal table with three golds and five in total. Russia won the most medals in boxing, six.

Competition format

Men competed in the following ten events:

• Light flyweight (49kg)
• Flyweight (52kg)
• Bantamweight (56kg)
• Lightweight (60kg)
• Light welterweight (64kg)
• Welterweight (69kg)
• Middleweight (75kg)
• Light heavyweight (81kg)
• Heavyweight (91kg)
• Super heavyweight (+91kg)

Women's boxing was included in the Olympic programme for the first time, with female boxers able to participate in three events:

• Flyweight (51kg)
• Lightweight (60kg)
• Middleweight (75kg)

Qualifying criteria

Main article: Boxing at the 2012 Summer Olympics - Qualification

Each National Olympic Committee was permitted to enter up to one athlete in each event. Nine places were reserved for the host nation, Great Britain, from which it chose up to six (five male and one female), while the remaining places were allocated to the Tripartite Invitation Commission. For each athlete from the host nation who qualified through the World Amateur Boxing Championships, the host lost a guaranteed place. Each continent had a quota of places to be filled through the two championships. Asia had 56 spots, the Americas 54, Africa 52, Europe 78 and Oceania 10.

Qualification events were:

• 2011 World Amateur Boxing Championships – Baku, Azerbaijan, 16 September – 1 October, in which 10 athletes for all categories, six athletes for the heavyweight and super heavyweight categories qualified for the Olympics.
• 2012 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships – Qinhuangdao, China, 9–22 May 2012
• Continental Olympic qualifying events during 2012

Medalists

Men

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Light flyweight	Zou Shiming  China	Kaeo Pongprayoon  Thailand	Paddy Barnes  Ireland
			David Ayrapetyan  Russia
Flyweight	Robeisy Ramírez  Cuba	Nyambayaryn Tögstsogt  Mongolia	Misha Aloyan  Russia
			Michael Conlan  Ireland
Bantamweight	Luke Campbell  Great Britain	John Joe Nevin  Ireland	Lázaro Álvarez  Cuba
			Satoshi Shimizu  Japan
Lightweight	Vasyl Lomachenko  Ukraine	Han Soon-Chul  South Korea	Yasniel Toledo  Cuba
			Evaldas Petrauskas  Lithuania
Light welterweight	Roniel Iglesias  Cuba	Denys Berinchyk  Ukraine	Vincenzo Mangiacapre  Italy
			Uranchimegiin Mönkh-Erdene  Mongolia
Welterweight	Serik Sapiyev  Kazakhstan	Fred Evans  Great Britain	Taras Shelestyuk  Ukraine
			Andrey Zamkovoy  Russia
Middleweight	Ryōta Murata  Japan	Esquiva Falcão  Brazil	Anthony Ogogo  Great Britain
			Abbos Atoev  Uzbekistan
Light heavyweight	Egor Mekhontsev  Russia	Adilbek Niyazymbetov  Kazakhstan	Yamaguchi Falcão  Brazil
			Oleksandr Hvozdyk  Ukraine
Heavyweight	Oleksandr Usyk  Ukraine	Clemente Russo  Italy	Tervel Pulev  Bulgaria
			Teymur Mammadov  Azerbaijan
Super heavyweight	Anthony Joshua  Great Britain	Roberto Cammarelle  Italy	Magomedrasul Majidov  Azerbaijan
			Ivan Dychko  Kazakhstan

Women

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Flyweight	Nicola Adams  Great Britain	Ren Cancan  China	Marlen Esparza  United States
			Mary Kom  India
Lightweight	Katie Taylor  Ireland	Sofya Ochigava  Russia	Mavzuna Chorieva  Tajikistan
			Adriana Araujo  Brazil
Middleweight	Claressa Shields  United States	Nadezda Torlopova  Russia	Marina Volnova  Kazakhstan
			Li Jinzi  China

Medal summary

Medal table

1	Great Britain	3	1	1	5
2	Ukraine	2	1	2	5
3	Cuba	2	0	2	4
4	Russia	1	2	3	6
5	Ireland	1	1	2	4
	Kazakhstan	1	1	2	4
7	China	1	1	1	3
8	Japan	1	0	1	2
8	United States	1	0	1	2
10	Italy	0	2	1	3
11	Brazil	0	1	2	3
12	Mongolia	0	1	1	2
13	South Korea	0	1	0	1
	Thailand	0	1	0	1
15	Azerbaijan	0	0	2	2
16	Bulgaria	0	0	1	1
	India	0	0	1	1
	Lithuania	0	0	1	1
	Tajikistan	0	0	1	1
	Uzbekistan	0	0	1	1
Total		13	13	26	52

Controversies

Alleged gold medal fixing

In September 2011, the BBC Newsnight programme uncovered evidence that $9 million (£5.9 million) worth of secret payments were paid to World Series Boxing (WSB), a subcompany of the International Boxing Association (AIBA), by Azerbaijan in return for two gold medals. The AIBA denied the allegations, stating that the secret payments were a loan from an Azerbaijani investor. The AIBA and the International Olympic Committee both started inquiries into the allegations. The AIBA investigation found in December 2011 that the allegations were "groundless and unsupported by any credible evidence."

Refereeing

There were several controversies and disputes regarding refereeing and officiating at the boxing events in the 2012 Summer Olympics:

Match	Controversy
Magomed Abdulhamidov  Azerbaijan v. Satoshi Shimizu  Japan (Bantamweight)	Azerbaijani boxer Magomed Abdulhamidov, who started the round with a two-point lead, touched the canvas six times in the final round of a bout against Satoshi Shimizu of Japan but still won a decision that included the round being scored 10–10. Referee Ishanguly Meretnyyazov from Turkmenistan waved off all the knockdowns and only gave a single warning. Shimizu and Japan protested and successfully appealed the decision. Meretnyyazov was removed from the pool of Olympic referees "with immediate effect" afterwards. According to the AIBA report of the incident, Abdulhamidov should have been given three standing eight counts and the bout scored as RSC in favor of Shimizu. As the initial decision was announced, Teddy Atlas, working as a commentator for U.S. broadcaster NBC, said: "Unbelievable! That's what the referee wanted to do. He wanted to save that fighter. That's incredible!"
Ali Mazaheri  Iran v. Jose Larduet  Cuba (Heavyweight)	German referee Frank Scharmach was suspended for five days after the second-round disqualification of Iran heavyweight Ali Mazaheri for holding Cuba's Jose Larduet. Despite the discipline of the referee, the disqualification of Mazaheri stood, as he received three warnings during the bout. At the time of the disqualification, Mazaheri was ahead by two points. He later called the ruling "a setup."
Sumit Sangwan  India v. Yamaguchi Falcão  Brazil (Light heavyweight)	The Indian Olympic Committee lodged a protest against the judges decision in the match between Indian boxer Sumit Sangwan and Brazilian Yamaguchi Falcao. The judges awarded the match 15–14 in favour of the Brazilian. ESPN commentators who were surprised by the verdict called it "daylight robbery". However, the protest which was specific to Round 2 of the disputed match was turned down by the jury.
Vikas Krishan  India v. Errol Spence  United States (Welterweight)	AIBA overturned the decision in the match between Indian boxer Vikas Krishnan and American Errol Spence which was initially awarded 13–11 in favour of Vikas Krishnan. The decision was overturned citing the nine holding fouls committed by the Indian boxer in the third round and for spitting out the gumshield intentionally. As the jury's decision was final, no further appeal by the Indians were permitted. India had approached the Court of Arbitration for Sport, but the appeal was rejected.
Evhen Khytrov  Ukraine v. Anthony Ogogo  Great Britain (Middleweight)	After the judges awarded the middleweight match to Ukrainian world number one boxer Yevhen Khytrov and Britain's Anthony Ogogo where both boxers scored 18 points to the British boxer, Ukrainian officials lodged an official protest as they felt aggrieved by the decision in the match where the Ukrainian boxer knocked his opponent down twice. As the appeal was rejected, the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine announced that they would appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Vazgen Safaryants  Belarus v. Han Soon-Chul  South Korea (Lightweight)	After the match between Belarusian Vazgen Safaryants and South Korea's Han Soon-chul ended 13–13, and as the boxers remained tied on a countback, the judges awarded the match to the South Korean boxer. Subsequently, the coach of the Belarusian boxer appealed against the verdict but the appeal was turned down.
Manoj Kumar  India v. Tom Stalker  Great Britain (Light welterweight)	After the judges decision to award the match between British boxing team captain Tom Stalker and Indian boxer Manoj Kumar 20–16 in favour of Stalker, the Indian boxer questioned the scoring: "It's like a district competition where there's lots of cheating, cheating, cheating." The ring-side judges were also not in total agreement in the second round which was decided 9–5 in favour of Stalker with a Turkish referee awarding it 7–5 in favour of Kumar. Stalker said: "I don't deal with the scoring, I just get in there and fight. In amateur boxing it happens all the time. You think you've won by more points or something like that, and it's just up to the judges."
Tervel Pulev  Bulgaria v. Yamil Peralta  Argentina (Heavyweight)	After the judges' decision to award the match between Bulgarian boxing team captain Tervel Pulev and Argentinian boxer Yamil Peralta 13–10 in favour to Pulev, the Argentinian media said: "Another theft in the boxing, in spite of losing clearly the second round and only run during the third, Pulev and the judges, classify to semi-finals".
Mark Anthony Barriga  Philippines v. Birzhan Zhakypov  Kazakhstan (Light flyweight)	The Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines (ABAP) filed a protest against the decision in the match between Filipino boxer Mark Anthony Barriga and his Kazakh opponent, Birzhan Zhakypov, claiming that Barriga was unfairly warned after being cautioned only once by Canadian referee Roland Labbe, whereas fouls made by Zhakypov (including wrestling Barriga onto the canvas twice) went unnoticed. The protest was turned down by AIBA without the fight tape being reviewed, claiming that the protest was "too subjective to review", and that the protest was lodged on emotional, rather than technical, grounds. In response to the verdict, ABAP president Ricky Vargas noted that "It seems in the battle of ‘giants’ justice is more difficult to attain for a small country like ours", with Philippine media having noted that a similar appeal filed by the United States had that match's result overturned by AIBA, and The Philippine Star noting that Kazakhstan is an influential member in AIBA and the Asian Boxing Confederation. Had the warning not been given, Barriga would have won the match 18–17.
Teymur Mammadov  Azerbaijan v. Siarhei Karneyeu  Belarus (Heavyweight)	After the match between Azerbaijani boxer Teymur Mammadov and Belarusian boxer Siarhei Karneyeu ended 19–19, the judges awarded the match to Mammadov. Karneyeu seemed to land the wide majority of punches in a third round where he was repeatedly held by Mammadov. The rules state if a boxer receives three warnings in one round, he is automatically diqualified. The excessive clutches, which were illegal, caused Greek referee Nikolaos Poutachidis to give Mammadov two warnings, but stopped short of giving him a third one. NBCOlympics.com replays showed that Mammadov had appeared to initiate more than three clinches during that period. Also if a fighter receives a warning for an infraction, his opponent can receive two points. The official scorecard showed that Karneyeu won the third round 6–4, meaning that if the judges gave Krneyeu full credit for Mammadov's conduct, he would have received four points for penalties—and just two points for punches landed. Belarus filed a protest but it was denied by the AIBA.
Custio Clayton  Canada v. Fred Evans  Great Britain (Welterweight)	The match between Canadian boxer Custio Clayton and British boxer Fred Evans ended with the scores tied at 14–14 and the judges awarded the match to Freddie Evans on the basis of a countback. Not satisfied with the decision, Canada lodged an appeal against the decision, on the basis that Evans was cautioned three separate times for holding during the bout but was not penalized a point for the infraction by the referee. The fight was subsequently reviewed and judged for a second time, but AIBA instead concluded that Evans was "incorrectly cautioned", and as a result did not deserve any point deductions. A news release issued by Boxing Canada director Daniel Trepanier stated: "We are very disappointed in this decision. Custio clearly won the fight in our opinion and this is not a good day for Olympic boxing."
Adilbek Niyazymbetov  Kazakhstan v. Oleksandr Hvozdyk  Ukraine (Light heavyweight)	Kazakhstan's Adilbek Niyazymbetov has scored a controversial victory over Ukraine's Oleksandr Hvozdyk in their light heavyweight semi-final. Hvozdyk made a decent start, producing the better quality in a close opening round that ended four points apiece. The Ukrainian was demonstrating some impressive accuracy with single shots that continually tagged Niyazymbetov. Despite being second best for most of the contest, Niyazymbetov found himself just a point behind as the third round approached. Hvozdyk was hardly troubled in the final round but still went on to drop a decision on countback (13–13).