Remembering The Rio Robbery

October 1, 2021October 1, 2021 Jonny Stapleton

If it wasn’t already, Michael Conlan’s 2016 Rio Olympic quarterfinal bantamweight fight has become one of the most notorious fights of all time.

Conlan was the ‘robbed’ poster boy of the Games after his massive reaction to the defeat and the blatant injustice of his exit.

The then reigning world amateur champion lost on a split decision to Russia’s Nikitin, a fighter he has since defeated in the pros, causing uproar across Ireland and further afield. Indeed, such was the damage the Belfast fighter inflicted on Nikitin at the time the Russian had to pull out of his semi-final with Shakur Stevenson.

Conlan’s reaction has become a thing of Olympic and Irish sporting folklore. The bird was flipped, the F bomb dropped and accusations of cheating were thrown around with real venom.

It was a result, a robbery and a reaction that traveled around the world and thus about that will live long in the memory.

In fact, such is the legacy of the fight that our memories are continuously refreshed about the injustice. We got a reminder that Ireland should have an extra should have 36 not 35 Olympic medals this week.

An independent investigation found that ‘an informal bout manipulation system existed’ in amateur boxing at the Rio 2016 Olympics.

The findings of the stage one report, which was commissioned by the AIBA and was fronted up by Richard McLaren, were published at a press conference in Lausanne yesterday.

The report also confirmed the Belfast fighter’s medal bout with Russia’s Nikitin among those deemed “suspicious”.

In fact that bantamweight quarter-final was cited as one of two bouts that were “the catalyst for the house of cards to come crashing down” in terms of the negative publicity and subsequent action regarding the officiating of boxing in Rio.

It brought back memories of the now-infamous battle and corruption that should never be forgotten.

We took time to remember the day of the fight and the moments after by looking at our stories at the time and you can do the same below:

All Our Stories from August 2016 – An Action Packed Month

Mick Conlan ROBBED in Rio

Conlan: AIBA are “f*cking cheats”

The Boxing World’s disgusted reaction to Conlan ‘loss’

Eddie Bolger: “There’s rumours around the Village that names are on medals already”

CompuBox Punch Stats: Mick Conlan v Vladimir Nikitin

Zaur feels judges giving 2nd round to Conlan was a defence against corruption claims

Conlan: “My reaction was a bit wild but it was my true emotions”

AIBA ‘take appropriate action’ and remove certain judges

The 13th Round: Passionate Mick Conlan will be a f*cking star