LONDON—Ishanguly Meretnyyazov was expelled after he refereed a match between Azeri boxer Magomed Abdulhamidov and Japan’s Satoshi Shimizu. Adbulhamidov was declared the winner of the match, despite being knocked down six times in one round by his opponent. Meretnyyazov was also criticized for giving the Azeri boxer too much time to recover. International amateur boxing rules say that a fight must be stopped after three knock downs in one round.
The incident angered spectators and commentators alike, as well as the Japanese boxer who immediately appealed the ruling. The International Boxing Association (AIBA) overturned the initial outcome in favor of Shimizu and expelled Meretnyyazov.
On the same day the AIBA also expelled an Azerbaijani technical official, Aghajan Abiyev for allegedly communicating with his home team, thus breaking his contract with Olympic officials.
The double expulsion immediately gave way for renewed speculation that the boxing officials were on the take.
The BBC reported that the WSB chief claimed the money was paid to guarantee that Azeri boxers would win two gold medals at the London Olympics.
AIBA is the international governing body for boxing, which is recognized by the International Olympic Committee. World Series Boxing, a franchised league of professional boxing, is one of the organization’s partners.
The BBC reported that WSB Chief Operating Office, Ivan Khodabakhsh, had discussed a secret deal to secure funding from Azerbaijan in return for guarantees that Azeri boxers would win gold medals at the Olympics.
These people are pathetic. Trying to buy gold they prove to us that they are the most pathetic people on the planet
I wish Azerbaijan could be banned from participating in the Olympics for the rest of this year and then the next one. They never seem to disappoint when it comes to deceit, greed and sheer stupidity.
Rightfully so! Boxing officiating has been a disaster… How do they expect to get away with this inexcusable act before the whole world!?!?! How dumb can they be? Commentators are so angry and frustrated. I am very glad that they both pointed back to the world (or Euro) championship in Azerbaijan last year and STRONGLY mocked the whole officiating circus over there by calling it ‘VERY CURRUPT’ on national TV!!! That was very satisfying…
According to Azeri’s the winning of the Eurovision song contest was a signioficant cultural milestone for Azerbajian, we all know how they won it in 2011. So it is no surprise that they will stoop so low to win a few medals.
A great example of the Azeri mindset in most political, cultural & sporting matters. It is more important for them to win Gold at whatever cost, and in this case its bribery & cheating.
Ok, now this is news. Not the other piece about a few Azeris scalping tickets.
The event mentioned in this article is the first controversy in the 2012 olympics. It happened a second time. You can here the reaction of the commentators (“you’re destroying this sport.”)
http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/boxing/expert-analysis-another-shocking-boxing-decision.html
Here’s the a video from the match mentioned in the article:
http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/boxing/highlights-japanese-boxer-robbed-by-controversial-decision.html
And here’s a new yorker blog discussing the first match:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/sportingscene/2012/08/olympic-fix-the-case-of-the-azeri-boxer.html
Azeris are not fighters,they are barans.I have served in Soviet Armii with them. They could serve only in the
military kitchen as cooks and bred cutters.Nothing more.
What else can we expect – They are used to paying off world powers to get their way, like Turkey does, it’s a habit. At least the Olympics has morals to tell Azerbaijan they are wrong and punish them. Too bad the international world of politics does not respect humanity and allows them to continue to do whatever they want because of dirty, blood-oil money. International world is working hard to take down “dictators”….have they seen how long the Aliyev’s have been in power? How long they have oppressed the people? The famous double-standard!
Same old donkeys. Zero progress in 100 years of their fake “country”. LOL
I read somewhere that they are bidding to host the 2020 olympics? If that before was not a joke, imagine what kind of auctioning house of gold medals they will turn the 2020 olympics if it were to be in Baku.
2020 Tokyo or Madrid!
Why ruin the sport cheaters, im sure they could have made medals for Azerbaijan if they want, it would have cost less then paying the refs. then they could lie to the people living in the country that they won gold in everything and that they are the best at everything
For President Aliyev and his family CHEATING IS NORMAL
Aliyev beleives he can buy some pride with petrodolars, lazy and looser azeris want to buy what they can never get differently
I wonder if other medals were rigged as well !!!!!!
Will there be any investigations if other medals were purchased?