Nigerian boxing officials and fans of the game where shocked to their marrow after Yakubu Ibrahim was stripped of victory in a light middle weight contest against Barbari Hamza of Morocco.
Ibrahim in the blue corner was declared winner by all judges in bout number 43, but a few minutes later, the jubilating Nigerian community and the entire hall were thrown into confusion when victory was reawarded to the Moroccan boxer.
The competition was temporarily halted as angry fans, athletes and Nigerian officials stormed the arena protesting the bizarre decision
“As I am talking to you, we haven’t been given a reason for Ibrahim’s victory cancellation,” lamented Dapo Akinyele Nigeria Boxing Federation secretary general.
“Ibrahim won the bout as shown on the score board. He won round one 5-0, lost 2-3 in round two and then won the third round 3-2.
“When I met the match commissioner he said it was bout review. The question is why would there be a review in a result declared by Judges and was changed by the match commissioner when there was no reason to do that?
“The match commissioner said we should request AFBC to intervene,
“This has to be the most embarrassing and shocking decision ever made in a boxing tournament. This is nothing but injustice done to a boxer who had trained hard to compete and win.”
He added that AFBC must now intervene to restore Ibrahim as winner of the bout before the next rounds of the middle weight contests.
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