Inside Team GB’s boxing failure in Paris with fighters controversially beaten before iconic sport VANISHES from Olympics
TEAM GB’s boxing team have been knocked off the podium in dramatic fashion.
By Monday night, FOUR of our six fighters were already out.
And if Lewis Richardson and Chantelle Reid cannot halt the downward trend, the value of the £12million injected into boxing for the Paris Olympic cycle will be seriously questioned.
Three of the British defeats were split decisions — with the verdicts against Delicious Orie and Rosie Eccles controversial to say the least.
Mike Tyson was world champion in 1996 the last time Britain left without an Olympic boxing medal.
Golden duo Galal Yafai and Lauren Price led the way last time as GB claimed six medals in Tokyo.
Nicola Adams won gold in Rio with Joe Joyce denied a title by scandalous judging that later cost the IBA its job of running boxing for the IOC.
There was a golden hat-trick at London 2012 through Adams, Luke Campbell and Anthony Joshua.
But the path paved by amateur pioneers like Audley Harrison, Amir Khan and James DeGale has crumbled.
It seems unlikely performance director Rob McCracken will remain at the helm.
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But it is not British boxing that is desperate for reform — it is the entire amateur code of the sport.
Boxing could be binned for 2028 in Los Angeles if a replacement body cannot be found to run the event.
The IBA was stripped of recognition by the IOC in 2023.
That came after professor Richard McLaren reported “significant” and “rampant” manipulation of results among 77 Rio bouts the IBA oversaw.
Umar Kremlev, a Russian pal of Vladimir Putin, was elected president in 2022 and promised a revolution.
But a sponsorship deal with Gazprom and throwing cash around the unpaid ranks has raised alarm bells.
Any talented boxer who watched the robbery Joyce suffered in 2016 or the suspiciously harsh decisions in Paris could be forgiven for ditching their own Olympic dream.
Because even if Orie had got the nod over Davit Chaloyan, he looked nailed on to lose to Uzbekistan’s Bakhodir Jalolov — a pro with an unbeaten 14-fight record who is still allowed to clean up at amateur events.
It is no surprise that British heavyweight sensation Moses Itauma, 19, and super-lightweight Adam Azim, 22, ditched the vest and headguard to make a living out of the sport.
And yet the amateur code — and the Olympics specifically — is supposed to be the sport’s pinnacle.
Joshua, Oleksandr Usyk and Vasyl Lomachenko will all tell you their gold medals mean more than every belt and pound note banked since.
Britain’s lack of success this week seems to say more about the state of the sport than the form of our crop.
Far more worrying than a disappointing medal haul is the feeling younger stars may be better off out of amateur boxing.
Especially our women since the IOC allowed two athletes with male DNA to fight in Paris.
Boxing’s toughest opponent right now is itself.