Referee fired after delivering knockout verdict in controversial bout

Referee Kent Hansen, who officiated in the controversial bout between Italy's Assunta Canfora and Colombian Camilo Bravo Camila Gabriela, has been expelled from the women's world championships here.

Hansen, who is from Denmark, had shockingly handed a win by knockout (KO) to Camilo against the top-seeded Italian in just 37secs in the 63kg round-of-16 bout on Tuesday. A stunned Assunta and the Italian team walked off the ring.

"It was a major mistake and he has been barred from the championships," said a highly-placed official in the know of things.

"He was found to be very casual in his approach. He was recently promoted to three-star and was officiating in his first major championships.”

The official revealed that Hansen has now been demoted and will be suspended for some time.

The International Boxing Association (IBA) has a system in place where the performance of judges and referees is analysed by an expert panel of technical officials every day. Each bout goes through a review by observers and evaluators. Erring referees and judges are issued sanctions and warnings. A third sanction against an official means he or she is immediately withdrawn from the tournament.

However, in Hansen's case the mistake was too glaring and an immediate "corrective measure" was required.

Refereeing and judging have been major areas of concern in international boxing. They were one of the key aspects that led the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to suspend IBA in 2019. An independent probe into the controversial bouts at the Rio Olympics by renowned lawyer Richard McLaren, an expert in sports law and arbitration, in 2021 pointed to 10 suspicious 'bouts' and 'manipulation' of results. IBA says it has taken several measures like introducing vetting and artificial intelligence to select technical officials.

After the loss, Italian head coach Renzini Emanuele had raised questions over the selection of judges and referees.

“Our athlete was winning the round and she just suffered a very normal blow, just like her opponent suffered other blows with the same effectiveness, it was a clear error by the referee. There should be a mechanism to protest such results,” Emanuele had said.

Similar comments were made by Japanese coach Hiyama Shigeru after India’s Nitu Ghanghas (48kg) beat Wada Madoka through RSC in the second round in the quarter-finals on Wednesday.

“I think the referee was too early in calling off the bout. These are elite women and they can continue for a long time. It was not as if the boxers were getting hurt. It was just that there were continuous punches. The boxers have worked hard to come this far and to be called out in one round or two rounds is not fair. There should be a rule to oppose such decisions,” Shigeru said through a translator.

An IBA official, when asked about the standard of refereeing in the tournament, however, expressed satisfaction. “The priority is to safeguard the weaker boxer. You do not want any big injuries to happen in the fight or a weak boxer to get thrashed unnecessarily,” he said.

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