French boxer Mourad Aliev performed a sit down protest at the Tokyo Olympics after he was disqualified during his quarter-final earlier today.
The 26-year old was taking on British fighter Cheavon Clarke in the the super heavyweight division when the referee stopped the fight due to Aliev's wild use of the head. Head clashes had resulted in his opponent suffering cuts over each of his eyes.
The fighter was given numerous warnings during the bout, which was eventually stopped in the second round. Of course, the winner of this fight was guaranteed to come home from the games with at least a bronze medal.
You can watch the incident below.
Aliev would go on to stage a protest after the fight, sitting on the ring apron for 30 minutes.
He would go on to explain how he feels he was treated unfairly by the officials:
I sat down to protest against the unfairness for me.
I prepared for these Games for four years. I really wanted to fight against the injustice, so that was my way to show that I don't agree with that decision...
I was just stopped without any warning and they just told me that 'you lost' - just like that. So I think it was an act of sabotage.
#FRA Mourad Aliev just came back out and sat down on the ring apron again! pic.twitter.com/Gx2Q98jVXy
— Greg Beacham (@gregbeacham) August 1, 2021
However, Clarke had a different view on the matter.
While he admitted that this was not the manner in which he has intended to win the fight, he also claimed this was not the first occasion that Aliev had been wild with his use of the head during their time in the ring together.
That's not the way I wanted it to go either. Believe it or not, I don't get in the ring to end up like this (with cuts).
It was a head clash. That's the fourth time I've boxed him and it's the fifth cut (he has gotten), and not one of them has been a punch.
I don't know if it's coincidence or not, but that's not how the sport should be done. I'm not saying he did it unpurpose, but these things happen.
We imagine we will be hearing more about this in the coming days.
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