In Nis, Serbia
Estonian referee Moris Punho stood in the ring nonplussed, but seemingly unapologetic at having deliberately destroyed a boxer’s career at the 14th IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships.
The Kenyan corner protested feverishly, an irate coach Benjamin Musa throwing ferocious verbal jabs of anger at the ref.
Compatriot David Munuhe was in a fit of rage, furiously interjecting and accusing the Estonian umpire of discriminating against African boxers.
All the while, Elizabeth Andiego stood forlornly in the red corner, painfully ungloving, preparing for the ritual of being declared loser, via a most controversial RSC (referee stops contest) decision, to China’s colourless Wang Xiaomeng in their light-heavyweight quarter-final.
An “RSC” decision in boxing is employed when, in the referee’s opinion, a boxer is thoroughly punished and needs protection.
But in this case, at the Cair Sports Centre, Andiego was outrightly the better fighter and was in control of the fight, her Chinese opponent resorting to holding and unboxing-like tactics to remain afloat.
The Kenyan was never in any danger. If anything, Xiaomeng was struggling to evade Andiego’s ferocious attacks, resorting to holding the Kenyan captain. And getting away with it without being reprimanded by the supposedly experienced referee who boasted 133 bouts under his watch before Thursday night’s encounter, according to ‘Boxrec’.
His 134th must have been his worst officiating, a shame to the Estonian ‘sinimustvalge’ - blue-black-white national flag – that Punho shares with his more illustrious countryman Ott Tanak who is in Kenya for next week’s WRC Safari Rally, in the Hyundai cockpit with navigator Martin Jarveoja.
Coach Musa punched holes into Punho’s blunders that fell flat in the face of the Kenyan captain’s solid gameplan, referring to Xiaomeng’s outing as more of a wrestling match that a boxing contest.
“Very painful…. After putting in a lot of work, effort and dedication. After all the sacrifice, then this!,” the coach ranted.
“The Chinese keeps holding, then the referee warns Liz in the first round… The Chinese wrestles Liz, but Liz receives a caution… Constant, unwarranted cautions disrupt a boxers (Liz’s) rhythm…” he dissected Punho’s flaws, also adding that the fact that his corner monitor wasn’t working further raised eyebrows.
“For whatever reason, the corner monitor wasn’t working, so no scores were shown for the first round, hence there was no possibility of fight plan for round two. Terrible decision!” Musa fumed.
There were similar protests by Spanish and North Korean contingents in other fights here, but the International Boxing Association (IBA) came to the defence of the referees, maintaining their decisions were justified.
“As the Observer for the IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships in Nis, I can confirm that the referee’s stoppage in Kenya vs China quarter-final fight at 81kg was absolutely correct. Safety of our boxers always prevails,” Wayne Rose, an IBA Observer, responded to the Daily Nation’s prodding for a right of reply.
But Andiego would hear none of that, maintaining that at no point was she in danger, and that she was firmly in control of the fight.
“I would have bounced back and won this fight. The referee was also giving me too many warnings and none to the Chinese fighter who was obviously holding me a lot… he was only warning me and not her. Why? I’m extremely disappointed because I was sure I was going through,” the Kenyan captain reacted.
“She (Xiaomeng) was holding my arm and when I tried to move, the referee was warning me… he then deducted a point that wasn’t necessary… it’s demoralizing. If this is what they call fair play, then there’s no need for competing.”
The decision against Andiego was Kenya’s fourth “RSC” loss here with featherweight Pauline Chege, flyweight Lencer Akinyi and light-welterweight Cynthia Mwai also having exited in similar fashion.
But while the Kenyan corner conceded that Chege and Akinyi lost fairly and the referees’ decisions were justified, they contested Mwai’s loss to Mexico’s Miriam Hernandez Gonzalez earlier in the week.
“He (referee) shouldn’t have stopped the fight… Our fighter (Mwai) was just getting her momentum and was strong, and not in any danger at all! Why did the referee have to stop this fight?,” David Munuhe, who is also the Secretary General of the Boxing Kenya Federation protested.
The global championship entered its semi-finals yesterday with the finals programmed for tomorrow. Today is a rest day with a “mother of all protests” planned in the Serbian capital Belgrade to demonstrate against government excesses.
And to their credit, despite the officiating chaos, the IBA have done well to bring the week-long championships to their logical conclusion with hosts Serbia celebrating their first ever medal at these world championships after Sara Cirkovic made history by defeating three-time medallist Zhaina Shekerbekova from Kazakhstan in the bantamweight.
Subsequently, six Serbians made it to the last four, assured of a bronze medal and $25,000 (Sh3.2 million) each.
There are only two African boxers in the semis, both Moroccans - bantamweight Widad Bertal and light heavyweight Hasna Larti - with Russia having the most qualifiers with seven followed by Serbia, Kazakhstan and Turkey with six each, China (five), Uzbekistan (four), North Korea, Thailand (three each), Ireland, Mexico (two coach) with Vietnam, Belarus, Slovakia and Moldova landing a boxer each in the last four.
Kenya’s results at the IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships in Nis, Serbia:
