Russia topped the medals table at the EUBC Elite European Boxing Championships with 11 gold medals, but at least one of them remained under the shadow of suspicion. Tarkhan Idigov denied two-time World and European silver medallist Lasha Guruli of Georgia another continental title by winning the men’s 67kg final in a refereeing decision that caused a worldwide scandal.
Lasha Guruli, 27, an Olympic qualifier for the Paris Games, stopped the fight before the second round in protest at unfair refereeing. The Georgian boxer’s decision was applauded by the crowd at Belgrade’s Aleksandar Nikolić Špionir Hall.
Guruli, the number one ranked fighter in his weight class, advanced from the quarter-finals and defeated Azerbaijan’s Nabi Isgandarov and Vahid Abbasov, representing the tournament’s hosts Serbia, in the semi-finals.
In the final, he faced 23-year-old Russian Tarkhan Idigov, and although the Georgian boxer outclassed his opponent in the second round, four of the five judges seemed to favour the Russian and Lasha refused to continue in the third. According to Lasha Guruli, the Polish representative was the only referee who judged the fight correctly.
After the final of the EUBC Elite European Boxing Championships, Georgian boxer Lasha Guruli posted a letter on social media. He publicly denounced that he had been offered a huge sum of money before the fight to keep him out of the ring.
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“Due to many internal and external conditions, I decided to comment on this matter after the Olympics. One thing I will say is that on the eve of the fight we were offered a large sum of money. They didn’t want me to go into the ring. When they got a sufficient response, they left words that they would pursue this fight by all means.
My strategy was to work from a distance so that I couldn’t exchange punches. The Russian lost the first round from a distance, and I didn’t think the referees had a chance either, but they still gave him a 4-1 advantage.
In the second round I changed my strategy and we exchanged blows, so the round was close on points, although I consider the second round my victory, but they scored it 5-0.
Everything became clear to me, so my protest was entirely against the organisation, followed by a corresponding agitation of the observation commission against the organisation.
There are many more important details that I will definitely talk about after the Olympics. It’s about world boxing and the future of boxing,” Guruli wrote on social media