Joe Joyce insists he should have won Olympic boxing gold at Rio 2016 and demands the sport’s officials overturn his defeat in the wake of a vote-rigging scandal that emerged earlier this week.
It was revealed on Thursday that Joyce was one of at least 11 victims of a vote-rigging scandal when denied a gold medal against Tony Yoka in the Brazilian city five years ago.
Professor Richard McLaren, sport’s top criminal investigator, found ‘problems’ in the decision to call the super heavyweight final in favour of Yoka, Joyce’s French opponent.
Joe Joyce won a silver medal at the Rio Olympics after suffering a controversial loss in the final
Joyce insists he should have won his final at Rio 2016 and wants to be handed the gold medal
McLaren, whose investigative team also uncovered Russia’s state-sponsored doping in 2016, revealed elite ‘five-star’ referees and judges at the Rio Olympics helped rig decisions in return for six-figure sums or to ‘thank’ supportive nations.
Two questionable verdicts at the time — defeats for Joyce and Irishman Michael Conlan — were ‘manipulated’, said McLaren.
Joyce appeared to completely outbox Yoka in the Brazilian city. However, at the end of the fight, Yoka’s arm was raised instead to widespread astonishment in the world of boxing.
That bout is one of those the investigators have identified as suspicious, although they acknowledge there may be more that require scrutiny as additional information becomes available.
McLaren said he could not insist on a retrospective gold for Joyce, adding: ‘That is not up to me. The international federation rules on that.’
The refusal of suspects to provide McLaren with their voting sheets until last week means that investigators say more work is needed to prove vote-rigging beyond all doubt. But a source confirmed the Joyce result was ‘in all probability’ fixed.
Tony Yoka (left) was awarded the win, but the result is set to be overturned after a fix probe
In a statement on Friday, Joyce revealed he had ‘scanned’ McLaren’s report and now hopes boxing’s authorities will finally give him the gold medal he believes is his.
He said: ‘It’s sad to see corruption in any sport but particularly in boxing – the sport I love.
‘I firmly believe that I was the winner of the match with Tony Yoka and deserved the gold medal. But on the day I did not get that decision and at the time I accepted that.
‘I have scanned the McLaren Report and have read that there was corruption in AIBA (the International Boxing Association) and that corruption affected the result of my gold medal match with Tony Yoka.
‘If corruption has taken place, and it appears that it has, I trust AIBA and the IOC (International Olympic Committee) will ensure the integrity of the sport is upheld and award me the gold medal.
‘I will be considering the report in detail with my legal team and await the decision of AIBA and the IOC. Corruption should never be allowed to succeed.’
Yoka celebrated at the end of the bout when the referee declared him the winner of the fight
As Sportsmail reported on Thursday, McLaren’s investigators are understood to have been hampered in their attempts to speak to the French former executive director of the AIBA, Karim Bouzidi.
McClaren revealed the voting scam was refined at London 2012, where referees and judges received their orders via signals at ringside or by discreet approaches.
The reports also described fears of ‘reprisals and threats to personal safety’ felt by those receiving such instructions.
One witness described drunk and corrupt officials entering his hotel room late at night using a set of keys obtained from the front desk and telling him that if he didn’t start doing the job he was hired to do, ‘things wouldn’t work out very well’ for him.
McLaren also said he has concluded that six-figure sums changed hands to decide the decision in some bouts, while others were fixed to benefit national associations or Olympic Committees.
The team were called in when an internal probe by AIBA found ‘strong suspicion’ of manipulation around a number of bouts at Rio.
Key findings in the report include:
- referees and judges were appointed because they would ‘comply with the manipulation or [they] were incompetent but wanted to continue’ in their role
- officials had ‘personal goals, which were frequently the intangible rewards of recognition, inclusion and respect in their home countries’
- bouts could be manipulated for money of to thank supportive national Olympic committees, on some occasions six-figure sums changed hands
- the investigation team acknowledge that progress is being made to’ correct the process of officiating’ at the AIBA but there are still weaknesses
The report presented by Prof McLaren on Thursday is just stage one of the investigation. Stages two and three will seek to ‘identify possible acts of corruption, mismanagement of funds, manipulation of results of elections or the like by AIBA in past and current administrations’.
Current AIBA president Umar Kremlev said of the report: ‘ I am determined to ensure that boxers receive a fair fight. This determination is demonstrated by AIBA’s clear commitment to uncovering the truth and acting on it.
‘We must now carefully examine the report and see what steps are needed to ensure justice. What is important is that we make sure the mechanisms are in place to show that results are above suspicion.’
AIBA was suspended and barred from organising the boxing competition at Tokyo 2020 after an IOC task force review of the sport’s governance, management, refereeing and judging. The IOC directly oversaw the competition in Japan instead.
AIBA has been warned boxing’s place at the 2024 Games in Paris is in jeopardy unless shortcomings identified in the review are addressed.
Richard McLaren, appointed by AIBA, addressed a press conference in Lausanne presenting his findings into alleged irregularities in boxing