India's Ankush Panghal was awarded gold in the Commonwealth Games men's 80kg boxing final in Glasgow after a contest that left England's Dimeji Shittu distraught and television commentators stunned.
Shittu appeared to have the better of the contest, winning the first round convincingly and forcing Panghal to take a count. However, the bout turned when Shittu was handed two-point deductions for holding and hitting in the second and third rounds respectively. The judges scored the fight 4-1 in Panghal's favour, with four of them awarding the Indian the final round.
The result left the 24-year-old visibly emotional, and the crowd booed when the verdict was announced.
'Shocking, terrible, totally robbed'
TNT Sports co-commentator Richie Woodhall was scathing in his assessment. "Shocking, terrible, totally robbed," he said. "He [Ankush] certainly had the referee on his side there and the referee has cost Dimeji Shittu the contest. He's been robbed there, I really feel for him. How did [Ankush] win that last round on the judges' scores? That is absolutely terrible. Shocking decision. Totally robbed and that's not sour grapes."
Former Commonwealth Games gold medallist Delicious Orie echoed Woodhall's frustrations and suggested AI scoring could improve boxing's subjective judging. He also questioned the lack of warnings before the deductions.
"In my opinion, it was a total robbery," he said in the TNT Sports studio. "I think the referee has stripped that gold medal from Dimeji. There's this thing in boxing, because it's subjective, the refereeing is subjective, the judging is subjective... I've been hearing stories that it would be good to potentially add AI judging into boxing. I wouldn't necessarily be against it because then it becomes an objective sport. In track and field, you're running to the line, you can't argue with time. If I knew there was a specific set of scoring, then bring AI, because I would follow that scoresheet instead of someone else's opinion. That can be the difference, as we've seen here, between a gold and silver medal."
'It cost me the fight'
Orie continued: "It's a real shame for Dimeji. He scored some really good points, he pushed his opponent back. I don't know what the referee was thinking. There weren't even any warnings, so to give him two point deductions really doesn't make any sense to me. I'm no ref, but speaking to Dimeji, stopping the fight, looking him in the face and saying 'don't do it again'. That's enough for him to not do it again. Essentially stripping that gold medal is no good."
Shittu himself refused to blame the referee. After the fight, he said: "A lot of people might say this about the referee, the judging, but at the end of the day I can only blame myself. Those are the rules. We live and we learn. At the end of the day, it's a foul in amateur boxing. It cost me the fight. If people think I should have got the decision, fair play, I understand. But if I'm sitting here blaming judges, blaming refs, I'm not going to get better."
