Olympic boxing round-up: Controversy (again) eclipses great action in Rio

The Rio 2016 Olympics are in the books, and boxing dished out 52 new medals including 13 golds. Of course, it wouldn’t be Olympic boxing without a fair amount of controversy on the menu, too.

Judging criteria remains frustratingly vague, leaving many fighters needing to hope that their specific gameplan is doing it for the three people around ringside holding their Olympic fate in their hands.

But despite the sickly aftertaste that inconsistent, questionable and sometimes flat-out inexplicable judging leaves, Rio was nonetheless a feast of excellent boxing and some truly great moments.

Here’s a run-down of what went down:

Men’s light-flyweight

Uzbekistan had a strong Games, with five fighters reaching their respective final and a total of seven medals, including three golds. Hasanboy Dusmatov earned one of those golds, beating Yuberjén Martínez in the final of the men’s lightest weight category. Joahnys Argilagos of Cuba and Nico Hernández of the United States each earned a bronze.

Men’s flyweight

Shakhobidin Zoirov reinforced the Uzbekistani dominance in lighter categories with gold one weight class up at flyweight. He defeated Misha Aloyan of Russia in the final, with Yoel Finol of Venezuela and Hu Jianguan of China in the bronze positions.

Men’s bantamweight

Cuban Robeisy Ramírez’s gold medal match win over American standout (and Floyd Mayweather interest) Shakur Stevenson was unfortunately overshadowed by the controversy surrounding bronze medallist Vladimir Nikitin of Russia. Nobody but those scoring the bouts felt Nikitin did enough to beat Thailand’s Chatchai Butdee or Ireland’s Michael Conlan - with the latter embarking on a furious show-stealing rant after his loss. Murodjon Akhmadaliev was one of Uzbekistan’s other medallists with the other bronze.

Men’s lightweight

Robson Conceição gave Brazil their only home boxing medal, beating Sofiane Oumiha of France in the final.Lázaro Álvarez of Cuba and Dorjnyambuugiin Otgondalai of Mongolia were the defeated semi-finalists earning bronze.

Men’s light-welterweight

Fazliddin Gaibnazarov was Uzbekistan’s third gold medallist in boxing with a win in the final over Lorenzo Sotomayor of Azerbaijan. Vitaly Dunaytsev of Russia and Artem Harutyunyan of Germany claimed bronze.

Men’s welterweight

Daniyar Yeleussinov gave Kazakhstan gold with a win over Shakhram Giyasov of Uzbekistan, with Mohammed Rabii of Morocco and Souleymane Cissokho of France in the bronze medal positions.

Men’s middleweight

Arlen López earned Cuba one of three boxing golds alongside Ramirez, beating Bektemir Melikuziev of Uzbekistan in the final. Misael Rodríguez of Mexico and Kamran Shakhsuvarly of Azerbaijan were forced to settle for bronze.

Men’s light-heavyweight

Julio César La Cruz rounded out the hat-trick of Cuban golds, with Adilbek Niyazymbetov of Kazakhstan his defeated finalist opponent taking silver. Mathieu Bauderlique of France earned bronze, as did Britain’s Joshua Buatsi - who nonetheless turned a lot of heads on these shores with his standout performances en route to the podium.

Men’s heavyweight

Evgeny Tishchenko was Russia’s other boxing controversy, as many believed he was beaten by Vasiliy Levit of Kazakhstan in the final, only to be awarded the gold. Rustam Tulaganov of Uzbekistan and Erislandy Savón of Cuba were good for bronze.

Men’s super-heavyweight

Though not as blatant as other disputable results, Britain’s Joe Joyce could only claim silver after his final against Tony Yoka of France. Compubox stats showed that Joyce landed more punches in every category and every round, despite Yoka’s slick counter-punching seemingly convincing the judges he had done enough. Filip Hrgović of Croatia and Ivan Dychko of Kazakhstan were the defeated semi-finalists.

Women’s flyweight

Britain’s Nicola Adams joined an elite group of Olympic athletes to win more than one gold medal when she defeated Sarah Ourahmoune of France in the final. Chinese boxer (and London 2012 finalist) Ren Cancan joined Ingrit Valencia of Colombia on the bronze podium spots.

Women’s lightweight

Estelle Mossely of France claimed gold with Yin Junhua of China forced to settle for silver in the final. Mira Potkonen of Finland - surprise conqueror of 2012 gold medalist Katie Taylor - and Anastasia Belyakova of Russia took the bronzes.

Women’s middleweight

American Claressa Shields joined Nicola Adams in making it two golds from two Games when she beat Nouchka Fontijn of the Netherlands in the final. Dariga Shakimova of Kazakhstan and Li Qian of China picked up bronze medals.