Seeds of discontent sown in ‘84
In 1984 with the Olympics held in Los Angeles, the US boxing team dominated the competition, taking out nine of the 12 gold medals on offer [1]. A major contributor to the unprecedented success of the US boxing team was the absence of the dominant soviet block nations, in particular amateur boxing giant, Cuba. However, many do not hold these absences as solely accountable; there remains to this day a widespread belief that the judging of the 1984 Olympic boxing tournament was heavily biased towards the U.S. team. Throughout the course of the competition there were many questionable decisions and rulings in favour of the US team. When US competitor Henry Tillman, in the inaugural heavyweight competition, was given a decision win over Angelo Musone, the verdict was criticised in Italian newspapers as, ‘hallucinatory’ and ‘scandalous’ [2]. After losing a close decision to Steve McCrory of the USA in the flyweight gold medal bout, Redzep Redzepovski of Yugoslavia complained, ‘As long as an American is standing on his feet for three rounds it is hard to get a decision over him [3]”. Redzep’s comments were strongly supported by the simple fact that 37 of the 38 bouts that went the full three rounds involving Americans, were decided in their favour.
The most vocal opposition to the officiating came from the Korean team. On paper the Koreans looked to have a strong team with a number of boxers considered to be in medal contention. However, as the Koreans failed to live up to their own lofty expectations, their attention turned to the American officials. The Koreans were particularly incensed by the dubious victory of light welterweight Jerry Page of the U.S over Kim Dong-kil [4]. After losing by a score of 4-1, a storm of protests were lodged by the Korean officials. Soo-In Oh, the vice president of the Korean delegation lodged a formal protest against the judging off the match and even went as far as to threaten to withdraw the entire boxing team from further competition. Oh would later admit that the threat was primarily an attempt to call attention to a string of controversial pro-US decisions [5]. The Koreans’ outrage was supported in all corners with many journalists, including the correspondent of the Los Angeles Times, expressing their opinion that Kim had won [6].
Despite the Koreans’ belief that the medals were practically being handed to the Americans, there were examples of fortune going the other way. The one decision to go against an American boxer was awarded in favour of Korea’s Shin Joon-sup. Shin was given the decision in a very close middleweight final against Virgil Hill. No less then four out of Shin’s five wins came by split decision [7]. Further, when Australian Renato Corbett was awarded a 3-2 victory over Korean Chil-sung Chun, the decision was overturned and Chun was given the 4-1 victory [8]. Further, what is regarded as the worst decision of the tournament was against American Evander Holyfield. In his light heavyweight fight with Kevin Barry of New Zealand, Holyfield let rip with a brutal two punch combination, a left to the ribs followed by a left hook. Barry was knocked out but the referee, Gligorije Novocic of Yugoslavia, disqualified Holyfield for a late hit claiming he had called stop after the first blow to the body. When the decision was announced Barry turned to Holyfield and said, ‘you won the fight fair and square.’ Before raising the American’s hand [9].
Despite the hope that the Joon-sup’s middleweight win would have a cathartic affect on the Korean team, it seemed that the Koreans would not soon forget their treatment at the 1984 Los Angeles Games. Korean team Vice President Oh was quoted as saying, "The judging has been quite unfair so far. We came here to learn a lot about the Olympic Games, because we are the hosts in 1988, and we've decided there's nothing to learn” [10]. Despite Oh’s claims it is felt that the Koreans did learn from the games and much of what they learned was applied at the 1988 Seoul Olympics to the detriment of their international competition. After the Jones decision there were accusations that officials of the Korea Amateur Boxing Federation had bribed or otherwise persuaded some of the judges as a payback for pro-U.S decisions at the 1984 Olympics [11].
Korean controversy and chaos in ‘88
At the 1988 Seoul Olympics amateur boxing reached all time lows. The scandals of Seoul were historic and as a result, boxing was on the verge of being discontinued as an Olympic sport [1]. Though the Jones-Park fight would become the pin up case of corruption in Seoul there were many other notable scandals. Perhaps the most sensational of which was the attack on a referee and the near riot that followed. In the early stages of the competition Korean bantam-weight Byun Jong-il squared off with one of the division favourites, Alexander Hristov of Bulgaria. The fight was a messy brawling affair filled fought mainly in the clinch. Kevin Walker, the New Zealand referee was hard pressed to retain control of the bout. Walker was forced to caution both boxers, but focused the majority of his warnings on Byun. Through the course of the bout Walker deducted 2 points from the Korean for illegal use of the head. The deducted points turned out to influence the outcome of the fight with Hristov adjudged the 4-1 winner. As soon as the verdict was announced, Korean boxing trainer Lee Heung-soo charged into the ring and struck Walker on the back. Lee was quickly joined by many other angry Koreans with the same intention of beating Walker. The situation was escalated when some of the security guards joined the riot, with one quoted as saying, ‘I acted instinctively for the love of my fatherland’. When Walker could finally be excavated he went straight from the arena to his hotel, then to the airport and onto the first flight home to New Zealand [2].
Another target of the Koreans’ anger was Emil Jetchev the Bulgarian president of the Referees’ Committee of the IABA. A Korean coach attempted to smash Jetchev over the head with a plastic box. Fortunately the blow was blunted by US judge Stan Hamilton who reached out to deflect the attack. Hamilton had to be treated for a badly cut hand but Jetchev was saved from potentially serious injury. Once the mayhem subsided and the ring had been cleared, Byun staged his own protest, sitting silently in the ring for a total of 67 minutes, breaking the Olympic sit-in record of 51 minutes set in 1964 by fellow Korean Choh Dong-kih. As a result of the attacks five Korean officials were suspended and the president of the Olympic Committee resigned, the Korean government formally apologised to the New Zealand Government. Many though there antics were worth the price however, and Taylor Gordon the Canadian coach was quoted in the New York Times as saying, ''Those two guys deserve all the credit. They've intimidated the officials into where they don't call anything at all against the Koreans'' [2]. This view was compounded by the fact that Lee Heung-soo, the trainer who led the attack was back in the arena shouting instructions to his boxers from a ringside seat within just three days. Ironically, the catalyst of the whole situation, referee Robert Walker had been accused by Irish officials days earlier, for not penalizing welterweight Song Kyung-sup when he engaged in head butting [3].
In another highly controversial situation a welterweigh bout between Todd Foster of the US and Chun Jin-chul of Korea had to be re fought as a result of an unprecedented ending. Due to the high number of entrants to the 1988 boxing tournament, two rings were used simultaneously until the quarter finals. To avoid confusion, the end of bouts was signalled by a different sound in each ring, a bell in Ring A and a buzzer in Ring B. The bout between Chun and Foster took place in Ring B and when the bell rang in Ring A, both Chun and the Hungarian referee Sandor Pajar hesitated. As Chun dropped his hands and looked to retreat to his corner the referee called stop. Foster, realising the round had not finished and that both Chun and Pajar were wrong, smashed the Korean with a left hook. Footage shows that Chun looked to his corner before slumping to the canvas in the pretence of being knocked unconscious by an illegal blow with the ope of having Foster disqualified. The referee started to count Chun out but at four, stopped to consult with the judges. Eventually the previously mentioned Emil Jetchev devlared the bout a no contest and ordered a rematch for the next day. 90 minutes later Foster who sitting in the stands was alerted that as a result of an American protest, the rematch would take place in 45 minutes time. This time there was no controversy as Foster knocked Chun out. [4]
Combined with these scandalous events there were other unfortunate and bizarre occurrences. There were a swathe of other controversial decisions and even the disqualification of US competitor Anthony Hembrick when his coaches misread the schedule and he arrived late for his fight [5]. As controversial as these issues were, the scandal greatest impact, both in terms of sensation and history, was the result of the middleweight final between Park Si-hun and Roy Jones Jr.
In 1984 with the Olympics held in Los Angeles, the US boxing team dominated the competition, taking out nine of the 12 gold medals on offer [1]. A major contributor to the unprecedented success of the US boxing team was the absence of the dominant soviet block nations, in particular amateur boxing giant, Cuba. However, many do not hold these absences as solely accountable; there remains to this day a widespread belief that the judging of the 1984 Olympic boxing tournament was heavily biased towards the U.S. team. Throughout the course of the competition there were many questionable decisions and rulings in favour of the US team. When US competitor Henry Tillman, in the inaugural heavyweight competition, was given a decision win over Angelo Musone, the verdict was criticised in Italian newspapers as, ‘hallucinatory’ and ‘scandalous’ [2]. After losing a close decision to Steve McCrory of the USA in the flyweight gold medal bout, Redzep Redzepovski of Yugoslavia complained, ‘As long as an American is standing on his feet for three rounds it is hard to get a decision over him [3]”. Redzep’s comments were strongly supported by the simple fact that 37 of the 38 bouts that went the full three rounds involving Americans, were decided in their favour.
The most vocal opposition to the officiating came from the Korean team. On paper the Koreans looked to have a strong team with a number of boxers considered to be in medal contention. However, as the Koreans failed to live up to their own lofty expectations, their attention turned to the American officials. The Koreans were particularly incensed by the dubious victory of light welterweight Jerry Page of the U.S over Kim Dong-kil [4]. After losing by a score of 4-1, a storm of protests were lodged by the Korean officials. Soo-In Oh, the vice president of the Korean delegation lodged a formal protest against the judging off the match and even went as far as to threaten to withdraw the entire boxing team from further competition. Oh would later admit that the threat was primarily an attempt to call attention to a string of controversial pro-US decisions [5]. The Koreans’ outrage was supported in all corners with many journalists, including the correspondent of the Los Angeles Times, expressing their opinion that Kim had won [6].
Despite the Koreans’ belief that the medals were practically being handed to the Americans, there were examples of fortune going the other way. The one decision to go against an American boxer was awarded in favour of Korea’s Shin Joon-sup. Shin was given the decision in a very close middleweight final against Virgil Hill. No less then four out of Shin’s five wins came by split decision [7]. Further, when Australian Renato Corbett was awarded a 3-2 victory over Korean Chil-sung Chun, the decision was overturned and Chun was given the 4-1 victory [8]. Further, what is regarded as the worst decision of the tournament was against American Evander Holyfield. In his light heavyweight fight with Kevin Barry of New Zealand, Holyfield let rip with a brutal two punch combination, a left to the ribs followed by a left hook. Barry was knocked out but the referee, Gligorije Novocic of Yugoslavia, disqualified Holyfield for a late hit claiming he had called stop after the first blow to the body. When the decision was announced Barry turned to Holyfield and said, ‘you won the fight fair and square.’ Before raising the American’s hand [9].
Despite the hope that the Joon-sup’s middleweight win would have a cathartic affect on the Korean team, it seemed that the Koreans would not soon forget their treatment at the 1984 Los Angeles Games. Korean team Vice President Oh was quoted as saying, "The judging has been quite unfair so far. We came here to learn a lot about the Olympic Games, because we are the hosts in 1988, and we've decided there's nothing to learn” [10]. Despite Oh’s claims it is felt that the Koreans did learn from the games and much of what they learned was applied at the 1988 Seoul Olympics to the detriment of their international competition. After the Jones decision there were accusations that officials of the Korea Amateur Boxing Federation had bribed or otherwise persuaded some of the judges as a payback for pro-U.S decisions at the 1984 Olympics [11].
Korean controversy and chaos in ‘88
At the 1988 Seoul Olympics amateur boxing reached all time lows. The scandals of Seoul were historic and as a result, boxing was on the verge of being discontinued as an Olympic sport [1]. Though the Jones-Park fight would become the pin up case of corruption in Seoul there were many other notable scandals. Perhaps the most sensational of which was the attack on a referee and the near riot that followed. In the early stages of the competition Korean bantam-weight Byun Jong-il squared off with one of the division favourites, Alexander Hristov of Bulgaria. The fight was a messy brawling affair filled fought mainly in the clinch. Kevin Walker, the New Zealand referee was hard pressed to retain control of the bout. Walker was forced to caution both boxers, but focused the majority of his warnings on Byun. Through the course of the bout Walker deducted 2 points from the Korean for illegal use of the head. The deducted points turned out to influence the outcome of the fight with Hristov adjudged the 4-1 winner. As soon as the verdict was announced, Korean boxing trainer Lee Heung-soo charged into the ring and struck Walker on the back. Lee was quickly joined by many other angry Koreans with the same intention of beating Walker. The situation was escalated when some of the security guards joined the riot, with one quoted as saying, ‘I acted instinctively for the love of my fatherland’. When Walker could finally be excavated he went straight from the arena to his hotel, then to the airport and onto the first flight home to New Zealand [2].
Another target of the Koreans’ anger was Emil Jetchev the Bulgarian president of the Referees’ Committee of the IABA. A Korean coach attempted to smash Jetchev over the head with a plastic box. Fortunately the blow was blunted by US judge Stan Hamilton who reached out to deflect the attack. Hamilton had to be treated for a badly cut hand but Jetchev was saved from potentially serious injury. Once the mayhem subsided and the ring had been cleared, Byun staged his own protest, sitting silently in the ring for a total of 67 minutes, breaking the Olympic sit-in record of 51 minutes set in 1964 by fellow Korean Choh Dong-kih. As a result of the attacks five Korean officials were suspended and the president of the Olympic Committee resigned, the Korean government formally apologised to the New Zealand Government. Many though there antics were worth the price however, and Taylor Gordon the Canadian coach was quoted in the New York Times as saying, ''Those two guys deserve all the credit. They've intimidated the officials into where they don't call anything at all against the Koreans'' [2]. This view was compounded by the fact that Lee Heung-soo, the trainer who led the attack was back in the arena shouting instructions to his boxers from a ringside seat within just three days. Ironically, the catalyst of the whole situation, referee Robert Walker had been accused by Irish officials days earlier, for not penalizing welterweight Song Kyung-sup when he engaged in head butting [3].
In another highly controversial situation a welterweigh bout between Todd Foster of the US and Chun Jin-chul of Korea had to be re fought as a result of an unprecedented ending. Due to the high number of entrants to the 1988 boxing tournament, two rings were used simultaneously until the quarter finals. To avoid confusion, the end of bouts was signalled by a different sound in each ring, a bell in Ring A and a buzzer in Ring B. The bout between Chun and Foster took place in Ring B and when the bell rang in Ring A, both Chun and the Hungarian referee Sandor Pajar hesitated. As Chun dropped his hands and looked to retreat to his corner the referee called stop. Foster, realising the round had not finished and that both Chun and Pajar were wrong, smashed the Korean with a left hook. Footage shows that Chun looked to his corner before slumping to the canvas in the pretence of being knocked unconscious by an illegal blow with the ope of having Foster disqualified. The referee started to count Chun out but at four, stopped to consult with the judges. Eventually the previously mentioned Emil Jetchev devlared the bout a no contest and ordered a rematch for the next day. 90 minutes later Foster who sitting in the stands was alerted that as a result of an American protest, the rematch would take place in 45 minutes time. This time there was no controversy as Foster knocked Chun out. [4]
Combined with these scandalous events there were other unfortunate and bizarre occurrences. There were a swathe of other controversial decisions and even the disqualification of US competitor Anthony Hembrick when his coaches misread the schedule and he arrived late for his fight [5]. As controversial as these issues were, the scandal greatest impact, both in terms of sensation and history, was the result of the middleweight final between Park Si-hun and Roy Jones Jr.
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