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Protests Filed For Two Boxers After Questionable Calls By Referee

Siarhei Karneyeu of Belarus (in blue) landed most of the punches in the third round of his bout with Teymur Mammadov of Azerbaijan, who wasn't penalized for holding.
Jack Guez
/
AFP/Getty Images
Siarhei Karneyeu of Belarus (in blue) landed most of the punches in the third round of his bout with Teymur Mammadov of Azerbaijan, who wasn't penalized for holding.

Olympic boxing continues to be mired in controversy at the 2012 Summer Games. Over the weekend, Belarus and Cuba filed protests about questionable decisions involving their fighters.

Two decisions Sunday angered fans and boxing commentators. Judges awarded victory to Teymur Mammadov, a heavyweight fighter from Azerbaijan, even though his opponent from Belarus, Siarhei Karneyeu, appeared to land most of the punches in a third round in which the Belarussian was repeatedly held.

The referee failed to issue warnings for all the illegal clinches — had he done so, the Azerbaijani would've been disqualified.

Later Sunday, Cuban heavyweight Jose Larduet lost a decision to Italy's Clemente

Russo, after the referee failed to penalize Russo for holding.

When the Cuban boxer left the ring, he was greeted by the Belarussian Karneyeu — who raised the Cuban's arm in a sign of solidarity, as spectators applauded.

Boxing officials denied protests filed for both fights.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Bill Chappell is a writer and editor on the News Desk in the heart of NPR's newsroom in Washington, D.C.