Spanish Boxers’ Olympic Defeat Sparks Controversy Over Judging

Spanish boxer Gabriel Escobar lost his quarter-final bout at the OG. His compatriot Emmanuel Reyes also fell to Julio La Cruz. The defeat of the two athletes sounds to some analysts like an injustice of the Moroccan referees Makfouni Abdellatif and Bachir Abbar who would have oriented their verdicts in favor of the opponents of the Spanish fighters.

"The two Moroccan judges gave us losers in all the fights. I already warned the organization, they didn’t take me seriously. They are shameless," said coach Rafa "Balita" Lozano after Gabi’s defeat. For his part, Gabi believes that he may be a collateral victim of the diplomatic crisis between Morocco and Spain. "I don’t know if they made us pay for their frustration with Spain (the Moroccans). I don’t do politics, but I know that in the last round, I did everything to win. And yet..." he said.

To read: Moroccan Boxing Federation Overhauls Leadership After Olympic Disappointment

Beyond the suspicions about the Moroccan referees, the ills that plague boxing at the international level seem more serious and deep-rooted. According to Sandor Martín, a professional boxer and triple European champion, the corruption of referees is one of them. "In Rio 2016, there was corruption and many judges were banned from participating in Tokyo 2020, but it is still AIBA that made the choice of these referees for these OG. I don’t want to say there is corruption, but the level of referees and judges is not up to par for a competition of this magnitude," he explains to El Español.

For the expert, referees and judges must also be controlled. "We would need to review the refereeing and judging actions and create an international level refereeing guide. Refereeing is not easy, but only the best should be at the Olympic Games," he adds.