GB Boxing 'dismayed' after Frazer Clarke stripped of semi-final place at World Boxing Championships

GB Boxing called for greater transparency from the International Boxing Association (AIBA) after Frazer Clarke was stripped of a semi-final spot at the World Boxing Championships following a successful appeal from his Russian opponents camp.

The British super-heavyweight was originally ruled to have won Wednesday’s quarter-final bout with home fighter Maksim Babanin in Ekaterinburg, Russia on a split decision, guaranteeing him at least a bronze medal.

However the Russian Federation successfully appealed the decision and the result was overturned, leaving Clarke, Commonwealth Games champion in 2018 and one of The Telegraph’s Tokyo Eight whose progress we are tracking in the build up to next year’s Games, “absolutely devastated and gutted.”

Under competition rules there is no right of a counter-appeal with a technical delegate for AIBA disclosing in a written report that Clarke’s win had been reversed on review because the Russian boxer landed more quality blows in the target area in the third and final round.

A spokesperson for GB Boxing, the body that oversees the sport at amateur level in the four home nations, said: “We are absolutely devastated for Frazer that a decision has been made to overturn the result of his quarter-final contest with the Russian boxer.  For him to come to his first World Championships and defeat the Russian in front of his home nation crowd was a superb performance. 

“To then have both the result and the medal he deservedly achieved taken away from him in these circumstances is a cruel blow and an outcome that has left the whole team dismayed and bitterly disappointed.”

“It is critical that the sport operates with complete openness, transparency and clarity and upholds the highest standards of governance.  We are therefore very disappointed that our request for information relating to the decision-making process in this instance has been refused.”

AIBA, which runs the World Championships, has been dogged by scandal in recent years and will not be in charge of boxing at next year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo after it was suspended by the International Olympic Committee over issues surrounding its finances and governance.

Having immediately taken to social media to voice his frustrations on Wednesday night, Clarke released a short video the next day explaining his feelings further, writing alongside it: “I’m not here crying and screaming making a fuss, what’s done is done . The matter will be taken further by the correct people with more knowledge and understanding than myself. Thank you again for all the messages.”

The overturned result means GB Boxing’s medal haul at the Championships has been reduced to three with Peter McGrail, Pat McCormack and Ben Whittaker all competing in Friday’s semi-finals.