I strongly believe that there’s deep rooted corruption in the AIBA, and personally think that the Russian boxing federation has been at the heart of that since 2016. Which is why I find it ironic that the AIBA, who is trying to repair its relationship with the IOC, elected a-

- Russian candidate as their new president despite the IOC having voiced concerns about him before.

Basically, I have no faith in Umar Kremlev’s presidency going forward and am fully expecting to see robberies benefitting a number of Russians in Tokyo this year.

Everyone talks about how ‘amateur boxing is corrupt’ but they don’t have the extensive knowledge required to analyse that further. Let’s take a look at some of the biggest controversies in recent years, and see what we can glean from it.

So, the first one that comes to mind is back in 2016 - the heavyweight final which saw Russia’s Evgeny Tishchenko against Vasilliy Levit of Kazakhstan. Tishchenko was gifted the win in what was one of the worst robberies I’ve ever seen. Who benefitted? A Russian athlete.

Another one in the Rio Olympics - Nikitin getting the nod over Michael Conlan. Probably the most notorious decision of the games, as Conlan clearly won the fight in most people’s estimations. But Russia’s Nikitin was given the nod, and took bronze as a result.

(Also worth remembering that Nikitin should’ve lost to Chatchai Butdee in the round before he met Conlan - benefitted from another contentious decision).

Now I could go on, but let’s look at more recent examples. We’ll start with the shithousery at the 2019 Worlds in Russia.

Once again, Kazakhstan’s Vassiliy Levit was robbed in a major tournament - this time against Castillo. The decision stunk, and I’ve always maintained that the judges awarded Castillo the W because he was a much easier opponent for Russia’s Muslim Gadzhimagomedov in the final.

They were probably wary of a repeat of Tishchenko-Levit, and decided to get him out of the tournament early so it would make less of a scene.

Another one is Maxim Babanin of Russia losing to Britain’s Frazer Clarke, only to have the result overturned on appeal which meant that-

-Babanin took bronze. Do you think if GB filed an appeal, they would have got the same outcome? Nope, not do I.

I really could list some more, but it’s late here and I should be heading off to bed. Basically, I think the Russian boxing federation are in cahoots with AIBA

- which explains why many of these questionable decisons seem to benefit Russian boxers in one way or the other.