Michael Conlan Has NO FEAR of AIBA's Threats of Action

Irish bantamweight Michael Conlan is not backing down after blasting Olympic boxing body AIBA as being 'corrupt' in an expletive-laden rant at the judging after losing to Russia's Vladimir Nikitin in the quarter-finals last Tuesday.

Saying he had been robbed of a rightful win, and vowing never to fight again in any AIBA-organized competition, the world champion also accused Russia of influencing judges.

"AIBA are just corrupt. They've robbed me of my Olympic dream," he told reporters after losing on points in a unanimous decision that, to some observers, seemed at odds with what they had witnessed.

"Obviously Russia can't dope this time so they are obviously paying the judges a lot more," he added. "I will never box an AIBA competition again. Not APB, not WSB, not world championships or Olympic Games. Corruption runs deep... I just think they are rotten to the core."

Conlan, who had been the last Irish boxer left in the tournament, lost 28-29 on all three scorecards. The three judges -- from Brazil, Sri Lanka and Poland -- all gave Conlan the second round 10-9 10-9 10-9 but scored the first and last in favor of his rival.

"He was completely surprised (to win). He roared like he'd won the Olympic gold... He knows he didn't win," Conlan said.

AIBA President Ching-Kuo Wu vowed to make Conlan pay for his outburst at the games and says he won't allow him to get away with those statements.

"(Tishchenko) never said anything. (Levit) never said anything. They all accept the result. But (Conlan), he immediately showed his finger to the referee-judges. The IOC says this is totally unacceptable. You cannot humiliate people. They are officials. He put himself in a difficult position, I can tell you. A lot of disciplinary action will follow. You should show proper behavior. If you are not happy about the result, you cannot humiliate in public our referee-judges. That has already drawn a lot of people's attention who want to punish him, so we are going to have a disciplinary commission for the case," Wu told the AP.

Conlan, who is now expected to turn pro, says he is ready for whatever Wu and the AIBA plan to do to him.

"They can try to do what they want," said Conlan to BBC. "It doesn't bother me. I spoke the truth and how can they discipline me after more or less admitting what they did was wrong because they sacked the judges?"

"I still believe everything I said was the truth. If I hadn't said those things, even though it was a bit crazy, I would probably have a bit of regret now. I know what happened and what went on. I'm just happy to come back here and get a hero's welcome. The support I have had has been overwhelming. It has made it a lot easier."

"Some of us performed very well. Some of us didn't perform at all. At the same time, we weren't getting any decisions over there. Close decisions were going against us. I'm confident I will have a successful future. I'll put the work in. This (setback) is only going to drive me on."