By Steve Bunce
RIO was strange.
Michael Conlan was the number one seed at the Olympics in Rio at bantamweight. It seems so long ago now.
Vladimir Nikitin was number eight, Shakur Stevenson was four and Robeisy Ramirez was number six. It was never going to be an easy weight to win. In the end, Ramirez had to fight five times for gold; the stories were elsewhere.
Floyd Mayweather was all over Pavilion 6 at the Riocentro. He just kept popping up in doorways and other random places; Mayweather was shopping for Stevenson. He still is, I guess.
The Rio Olympic boxing tournament was a disaster in many ways. The screams of corruption were, we discovered a few years later, all true. As a consequence of that chaotic two weeks, boxing at the Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028 is still not certain. Actually, right now, it is not going to be an Olympic sport in Los Angeles and that is because of what happened in Rio. It’s that simple – the old-school crooks, with their faded Cold War agendas ran it, ruined it and are now pleading innocence.
Conlan had a bye and then beat Armenia’s Aram Avagyan. He was in the quarter-finals, and he was due to meet old opponent, Nikitin. At the World Championships in Kazakstan in 2103, Nikitin had beaten Conlan in the quarter finals. It was never going to be easy. Never.
Nikitin had won twice; an easy win and then a good win over Butdee Chatchai, who had beaten Qais Ashfaq in the opening contest. Nikitin was marked and cut and had staples in the left side of head to keep a gash from opening. I’m not inventing this – it was bloody and gruesome.
Stevenson had beaten the Brazilian and then had the Mongolian in the quarters. That is decent passage for any fighter, trust me. He looked fresh and young, and Mayweather was forever by his side.
Ramirez had beaten the Indian and the Moroccan to set up his quarter against the number three seed, Jiawei Zhang of China. Meanwhile, the feared number two seed, Murodjon Akhmadaliev cruised into the quarters. That is a lot of good, good men heading for collisions.
In 2015, Conlan had won both the European and the World Championships and beaten Akhmadaliev in the finals of the Worlds in Doha. That is why he was the number one seed. And that is why he had so much pressure on his shoulders.
On quarters day, Stevenson beat the Mongolian, Akhmadaliev stopped the Argentine and Ramirez boxed the ears off Zhang. Three through and just the grudge fight to decide the fourth. As I said, it was never going to be easy. What a day, that was by the way, Joe Joyce beat Bakhodir Jalolov. Glorious viewing.
Conlan dominated the first with style. At the end of the round, he found out – thanks to Paddy Barnes, his great friend – that he was actually down on all three cards. His father, John, who was in the corner, got the news about the scores and said to Michael: “You need to go forward.”
It was a change of plan, but Conlan was strong enough to get involved with Nikitin. There had been a team conversation the night before and Conlan had been told that he could stop Nikitin. In the second, he went forward, it was more of a brawl, and he won that round. Then it was the third and there was a feeling in the hall, a bad feeling.
Conlan boxes Nikitin in their notorious amateur bout Action Images
In my mind I thought the third was close, but five years ago I sat down with Conlan and watched the fight again. Conlan breezes the last. He waits for the decision, but he does not look confident – the scores are in, and he is out. The Olympic dream is over.
Nikitin’s wound on the left side of his head, the one with the staples is weeping blood, and there is a fresh cut by his left eye dripping blood. He looks more like a loser than any winner I have ever seen. In the ring, with his hand by his side, Conlan is raging to the point of violence.
“I wanted to spit on the judges – spit on all of them and tell them that they had ruined my dream,” Conlan told me.
Conlan left the ring and now regrets that. Nikitin is still jumping up and down and smiling.
“I wish I had stayed in the ring and sat down – that would have been a good protest” Conlan said. There were a series of fiery and angry interviews. Conlan attacked from the heart.
There was talk of an investigation in Rio, but the process of appeals had been dropped since London. Had there been a process to appeal, I truly believe that Conlan would have been declared the winner and that there would have been justice. It was so blatant, there were no arguments for interpretation. Conlan was out of Rio and out of amateur boxing. He left behind a few images and some words – both have been instrumental in the global efforts to change the image of amateur boxing.
Russia’s Vladimir Nikitin got a controversial decision against Conlan in the Olympics Action Images/Peter Cziborra
Nikitin was ruled out by a doctor and could not fight in the semis. Conlan was not allowed back in; Stevenson then had a bye to the final. It was an ugly time to be anywhere near the action. In the final, Ramirez beat Stevenson. It was tight, but not as tight as people like to think.
That is the main story from the Olympic boxing in Rio. It is a tale of desperation, corruption and heartbreak. In 2019, Conlan met Nikitin at Madison Square Garden and it was a shut out again, this time the right man won. It was a form of revenge.
