The next scandal in London with Azeri sportsmen

According to the International Boxing Association (AIBA), two officials have been expelled and another has been suspended following controversies in Wednesday's Olympic bouts involving fighters from Azerbaijan and Iran.

Referee Ishanguly Meretnyyazov of Turkmenistan has been sent home "with immediate effect" for his actions, mainly failing to rule a standing-eight count for any of the six instances in which Azerbaijan's Magomed Abdulhamidov hit the canvas during the third round of his bantamweight (56kg/123 lbs) bout with Japan's Satoshi Shimizu on Wednesday. 

Abdulhamidov was awarded the win by the judges, a decision that was subsequently overturned by AIBA hours later.  It was not stated whether there would be any punishment for the five judges in charge of levying the final score.

The AIBA Olympic Compliance Committee has also expelled International Technical Official Aghajan Abiyev of Azerbaijan "with immediate effect" for breaching the governing body's code of conduct, although nothing in particular was specified.  Abiyev has since departed from the AIBA Delegation's hotel.

In addition, German referee Frank Scharmach has been suspended for five days through Aug. 6 following his questionable second-round disqualification of Iranian heavyweight (91kg/201 lbs) Ali Mazaheri for excessively holding Cuba's Jose Larduet.  Although AIBA has disciplined Scharmach, the disqualification will stand.

At the time of Scharmach's abrupt choice to halt the fight, Mazaheri was ahead by two points, leading the Iranian to call the German's ruling "a setup."

"I deeply regret that we had to take these decisions. However, our main concern has been and will always be the protection of the integrity and fair-play of our competitions. I will take all possible steps to reinforce this," said AIBA president Dr. Ching-Kuo Wu in a statement to the press.

In the 1988 Seoul Olympics, American Roy Jones Jr. overwhelmed South Korean Park Si-Hun in the gold medal bout of the now-defunct light middleweight class, even outlanding him 86-32 in one unofficial tally.

But Park was awarded the decision, one so unconscionable that two of the three judges who scored the fight for the South Korean were banned for life, resulting in widescale reform to the amateur scoring system.   

More than two decades later, the Abdulhamidov-Shimizu bout has garnered similar international attention for the absurdity of its outcome.  Down by seven points heading into the third and final round, Shimizu roared back to floor his foe six times with several hard shots that left Abdulhamidov stumbling all over the ring.

However, Meretnyyazov refused to call any of the six falls a knockdown; if he did, he would have been obligated to administer a standing-eight count to Abdulhamidov.  Each standing-eight count would have resulted in one point for Shimizu. 

Eventually, the judges handed out a final score of 22-17, a margin that included the Azerbaijani receiving 10 points in the final round despite all the knockdowns.

In fact, the Japanese fighter dominated so clearly that in their ultimate finding to overturn the faulty verdict, AIBA stated that referee Meretnyyazov should have administered "at least" three standing-eight counts and an automatic stoppage win for Shimizu.

"I was shocked about the result. He fell down so many times. Why didn't I win? I don't understand," Shimizu told Reuters.

NBC ringside boxing commentators Teddy Atlas and Bob Papa were incensed at the developments, eliciting emotional diatribes regarding the state of amateur boxing.

"If it winds up going to the fighter from Azerbaijan, you really have to think about what the intentions of that referee was," Atlas said before the judges' verdict was announced.  "By not giving him eight-counts, by not stopping the fight, maybe not even allowing a fighter to quit, the fighter from Azerbaijan might have wanted to quit.  If it goes to him, you have to wonder what the intentions of this referee was."

Papa was equally infuriated with his take on the matter while Abdulhamidov struggled to stay on his feet, even using the ropes to prop himself upright.

"I'm reading from the rules," Papa said.  "If a boxer is down on the mat from a punch, the referee is to give a ten-second count.  If the boxer can't continue, it's a knockout...This referee never administered an eight-count for an injured boxer, He should be eliminated from the Olympics."

"Immediately," Atlas replied.  "This is going to be a joke if it winds up not going to the Japanese fighter."

When Abdulhamidov's arm was raised in victory, Atlas and Papa were livid, alluding to the potential foul play on the part of Meretnyyazov and others.

"Unbelievable!" Atlas exclaimed.  "That's what the referee wanted to do.  He wanted to save that fighter.  That's incredible!"

"Everybody here from AIBA should look at themselves and realize why this sport is considered a joke at this point," Papa added.

AIBA has been involved in controversies regarding Azerbaijan's program as recently as last September, when British network BBC reported on allegations that in exchange for a $10-million loan, Azerbaijan's boxers would be promised two gold medals at the 2012 London Olympics.

However, an investigation committee conducted by AIBA determined that the BBC report was "groundless and unsupported by any credible evidence." Information from Reuters contributed to this report. -0-