Russia’s Tishchenko booed as he wins controversial heavyweight boxing gold on points in Rio

Olympic boxing was at the centre of a judging controversy after Russian Evgeny Tishchenko added Rio heavyweight gold to his world and European titles on Monday at the expense of Kazakhstan’s Vassiliy Levit.

Loud boos rang out in the crowd after the announcement that the judges had surprisingly given Tishchenko the win on an unanimous points decision when most believed Levit had taken the fight.

But they reserved a ferocious cheer for Levit, 28, who wiped tears from his eyes as he accepted his silver. More boos followed when Tishchenko collected the gold medal.

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A gracious Levit beckoned to the crowd to give his Russian opponent a more respectful reception and the Kazakh said afterwards: “I came for gold but at the last step failed so I didn’t fulfil the programme 100 per cent, but that’s life.”

“Every fighter that comes out of the ring deserves respect,” he added, asked why he had pleaded Tishchenko’s case to the enraged 9,000-seat arena.

“In my head I thought I had won and the coaches were quite happy with me and told me I did everything in the programme for the fight, but you saw how it ended up.”

Tishchenko, the 25-year-old with piercing eyes, said last week that his build-up to the Games had been hampered by the uncertainty caused by Russia’s doping scandal, which meant he only knew for sure that he would be competing days before the Olympics.