ESTONIAN referee Moris Puhno scuppered the hopes and dreams of Kenya’s Elizabeth Andiego with a second-round stoppage that was not premature, but rather egregiously early.
There has already been some contentious decisions at this year’s Women’s World Boxing Championships in Niš, Serbia, however this one reeked of something particularly foul.
Entering yesterday’s bout as the only woman in the history of Kenyan boxing to reach the quarterfinals of a major tournament, Andiego had a golden opportunity to pull off what would have been a sizable upset against China’s Xiaomei Wang.
But in the first round of their light-heavyweight contest, the 38-year-old swiftly came to terms with the fact that she was fighting a losing battle.
As it happens, she had looked mightily impressive from the opening bell, catching her opponent cleanly with a series of thudding combinations.
And yet, despite Wang incessantly locking off her opponent’s arm during each clinch, it was Andiego who ultimately suffered a point deduction in the first three minutes.
Baffled by the referee’s call, the Kenyan entered the following round with far more venom which, in turn, made for a fiercely competitive spectacle.
But then, after issuing a somewhat justifiable standing count, the referee halted their contest in truly controversial fashion.
Remaining in the ring – their eyes still adjusting to what they had just seen – the Kenyan coaches soon began to protest.
Their words, however, simply fell on deaf ears, with each representative of the International Boxing Association (IBA) seemingly attempting to defend the referee’s indefensible decision.
“[my opponent] was holding my arm and, when I was trying to move, the referee was warning me,” Andiego told Boxing News shortly after her defeat.
“He then deducted a point that wasn’t necessary. It’s demoralising. If this is what they call fair play, then there’s no need for competing.
“I felt like they were trying to bring me down because I was winning.”
After the first round, it was surprising to see that the judges’ scorecards had not emerged on the IBA’s YouTube stream, nor were they disclosed to the Kenyan corner team.
“We could never have imagined that happening,” Andiego’s coach said of the stoppage. “The [referee’s standing] count was okay, but the stoppage was NOT okay.”
“The [judges’] scores were not [revealed] – I don’t know what was happening. The IBA is talking about fair play – was that really fair play?
“What [the IBA] have to do now is retrain their officials. There’s a chance [we will join World Boxing], because if we’re not liked here, we go to the next town.”
As if matters could not have gotten any worse, the coach was then allegedly told by a member of the IBA that they should be “grateful” for the money they have allegedly received.
A source with close links to the African team, however, has told Boxing News that the Boxing Federation of Kenya had funded its own trip to Serbia, not relying on any financial assistance from the IBA.
Regarding the judges’ scorecards, meanwhile, the IBA has claimed that a recurring technical issue meant that they could not appear on screen at the venue or on the YouTube live stream.
Yet still, Boxing News has been given no explanation as to why the Kenyan corner team were not notified.
As for the stoppage itself, IBA observer Wayne Rose clearly did not see the clean and effective work from Andiego.
In an official statement, he said: “As the Observer for the IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships in Niš, I can confirm that the referee’s stoppage in Kenya vs China quarterfinal fight at 81kg was absolutely correct. Safety of our boxers always prevails.”
