German referee Frank Scharmach, who disqualified Iranian Olympic boxer Ali Mazaheri after three warnings, has been given a five-day suspension by the Amateur International Boxing Association (AIBA).
Mazaheri received several warnings from Scharmach for holding, and the referee finally waved off the fight midway through the second round.
Despite Scharmach’s suspension, Mazaheri’s disqualification stands.
Mazaheri claimed his disqualification was “a set-up”, but AIBA told Reuters: “The Iranian boxer received three warnings during his bout. According to Rule 12.2.1 of the AIBA Technical & Competition Rules, ‘only three warnings may be given to the same boxer in one contest. The third warning brings automatic disqualification’.”
Reuters reports that another referee, Ishanguyi Meretnyyazov of Turkmenistan, was also pulled from the London Olympics after a complaint was filed with the association. Meretnyyazov reportedly allowed Magomed Abdulhamidov of Azerbaijan to continue fighting despite falling to the canvas six times in the third round against his Japanese adversary, Satoshi Shimizu.
AIBA overturned the victory handed to the Azeri fighter by the referee and announced that Shimizu, who was reportedly astounded by the original decision, will advance to the quarter finals instead of Abdulhamidov.
