The Glaswegian #11: Late Glasgow 2026 boxing controversy fails to dent optimism that new systems are helping sport leave dark days behind
Tech safeguards and neutral referees and judges at Commonwealth Games helped restore confidence, but World Boxing still has plenty of work to do before 2028 Olympics
Boxing is still very much on probation when it comes to the Olympics after a seemingly never-ending series of refereeing and judging scandals plunged its future into doubt.
Things came to a head after Rio 2016 when systematic match-fixing was exposed, leading to the International Olympic Committee demanding a complete culture shift and the introduction of foolproof integrity measures by officials.
The International Boxing Association’s failure to convince the IOC that they could build such a system, along with concerns over its leadership, led to the formation of a new governing body.
At one point, there seemed a real possibility that boxing could be left off the Olympic programme for Los Angeles 2028, but it was given a reprieve.
World Boxing, established in April 2023 by national federations aiming to keep boxing in the Olympics, has been entrusted with governing the sport.
These Commonwealth Games have been their biggest test so far of whether they are capable of ending the decades-long suspicion that the sport is rigged.
World Boxing had overseen the boxing tournament at the Islamic Solidarity Games in Riyadh last November, but Glasgow 2026 was a much bigger event with nearly three times as many bouts during the 10-day competition, which concluded yesterday.
In a bid to prevent systemic corruption and individual bias, the selection process for Glasgow 2026 by World Boxing included the vetting of credentials and rigorous scrutiny at national levels.
The majority of officials were recruited from non-Commonwealth countries, helping reinforce confidence that fights were judged impartially and eliminate the home-nation and regional biases that had plagued previous Games.
The biggest refereeing controversy of the tournament was not even really a controversy, when Uganda’s Aziz Abdul complained bitterly and loudly that he had been the victim of racial and regional bias by judges.
After being disqualified in his quarter-final of the plus 90 kilograms division for headbutting his opponent, England’s Damar Thomas, Abdul claimed judges deliberately deducted him points while ignoring his punches because he was a “black African” fighting a home-nation athlete.
The incident would probably have passed largely unnoticed if it had not been for the fact that Abdul is the grandson of Uganda’s former brutal dictator, Idi Amin, who had once declared himself the “King of Scotland”.
Donald Rukare, president of the Ugandan Olympic Committee, as well as the head of Commonwealth Sport, was among those who dismissed Abdul’s complaints. “It was clear as day, everyone saw what happened,” he told the Zeus Files.
There were also claims by television commentators that England’s Dimeji Shittu had been “robbed” after he had to settle for silver following a defeat by India’s Ankush Panghal in the final of the 80kg event last night.
Shittu was docked a point in both the second and third rounds, but ultimately it made no difference as the judges gave the fight 4-1 to Panghal.
Richie Woodhall, England’s Commonwealth Games gold medallist in the 71kg at Auckland 1990, claimed on TNT Sports, “The referee has cost Shittu the contest.”
Shittu, though, refused to blame the officials afterwards. “A lot of people might say this about the referee, the judging, but at the end of the day I can only blame myself,” he said.
Northern Ireland’s defending 60kg champion Jude Gallagher had much more reason to speak out after his surprising 3-2 split-decision loss to Namibia’s Tryagain Morning Ndevelo in the semi-final.
On at least two occasions in the final round, Ndevelo’s legs looked like they were going after catching big right hands thrown by Gallagher. Much softer shots in the tournament had been followed by standing counts.
“I looked at the scores after the fight,” said Gallagher. “I got it on one judge’s scorecard 30-26 - that’s quite a convincing winner, in someone’s eyes.
“And then for a couple of other judges to go against me, it doesn’t make sense. The judging and the officiating at this tournament were a bit questionable.
“I’m not someone to come out and talk about ringside judges or referees, that’s not my style to get involved in that, but when it happens to you, it’s hard to ignore.
“I think it has been just a bit all over the place, to be honest. I think something needs to be looked at, or it needs to be addressed in some shape or form.”
Another boxer from Northern Ireland, John Paul Hale, called the officiating a “joke” after losing his 65kg round of 16 bout to England’s Patris Mughalzai, who went on to claim the gold medal yesterday.
Hale claimed that the Moroccan referee, Mouhsine Souilmi, disrupted the rhythm of the fight with frequent interruptions, warnings and inconsistent standards, allowing his opponent to neutralise his pressure.
Hale had two points deducted during the fight, while Mughalzai was penalised by losing one point. That development had a significant impact on the final calculation because, in Olympic-style boxing, every official warning results in the deduction of one point on each of the five judges’ scorecards. Hale claimed it had been the difference between defeat and victory at Glasgow 2026.
Scottish boxer Brooke Neely, meanwhile, was left devastated after a two-point deduction for holding resulted in her round-of-16 defeat to Sri Lanka’s Nadeeka Ranasinghe in the 51kg category. She called it “heartbreaking”.
In a tournament featuring 14 weight categories, 201 boxers from 43 nations and a total of 187 bouts, there were always going to be some decisions that fighters disagreed with.
But, unlike previous Commonwealth and Olympic Games, there was no real sense that any sort of organised and systematic conspiracy was going on.
Insiders have claimed that, rather than the corruption of the past, these discrepancies on scorecards and erratic points deductions are more likely to be down to lack of tournament experience among the newly formed group of officials.
World Boxing remains a relatively new organisation that, due to the complete split from the IBA and a determination by them not to recruit any officials previously implicated in questionable behaviour, has had to quickly, train and certify a brand-new pool of international referees and judges.
Supporters of Ghana and Nigeria have also been vocal online about “biased” refereeing, mainly when the bouts have involved Moroccan officials, but not a single protest about a decision was filed during Glasgow 2026.
This is down to another major change introduced by World Boxing. The IBA utilised a highly criticised but active “bout review” system where teams could pay a fee to formally protest a 3-2 split decision in an attempt to get it overturned.
It was a system open to corruption, tactical manipulation, and financial exploitation and was frequently used as a weapon by powerful national federations to get results changed in their favour.
Tension came to a head at the last Commonwealth Games, in Birmingham four years ago, when the IBA were allowed to run the tournament, despite having already been suspended by the IOC from organising the Olympics.
There were widespread accusations that wealthier federations were paying cash fees to challenge subjective scores, aggressively trying to manipulate split decisions backstage to overturn results.
For Glasgow 2026, World Boxing implemented its new system, a strict, video-and-AI-backed challenge procedure alongside independent third-party oversight.
Each country was granted two bout challenges, which had to be formally declared within a strict five-minute window of the fight finishing. The process restricted reviews strictly to objective technical or administrative refereeing errors - such as incorrect knockdown counts or missed foul enforcements - and completely barred protests over subjective point scoring.
Challenges would have been evaluated using an independent, technology-backed framework combining AI-based bout analysis with official judge evaluator scores. If a successful challenge corrected the decision, World Boxing would have allowed the team to retain its challenge allotment, while a failed attempt would have meant the original decision stood and the team forfeited a challenge.
Certainly, this was an event that seemed to be mostly free of the stench of corruption and manipulation that had hung over previous boxing tournaments at major multi-sport games. In fact, it was so ingrained in boxing that you just accepted that, like taxes and death, it was inevitable.
The Scottish Exhibition Centre had a touch of Bollywood on finals’ day yesterday as Indian boxers claimed a record seven gold medals, including five of the seven available in the women’s divisions. England finished second as India won as many golds as the next three countries combined.
Overall, it was an encouraging few days for World Boxing, but a few faults need sorting out before LA28, where the stakes mean it will matter much more, the opportunities for regional alliances will be riskier and the threat of geopolitical tensions even greater.
Amdavad 2030 aims for India’s cream of the crop after Amul’s Glasgow 2026 deal
Indian companies look set to throw their huge corporate support behind the 2030 Commonwealth Games in Amdavad.
Massive Indian dairy cooperative Amul signed up to be a second-tier partner of Glasgow 2026 on the eve of the opening ceremony of these Games in Scotland.
It was a deal that also included presenting partner rights at the boxing, Para powerlifting and weightlifting competitions, events where athletes from India have shone.
Amul is the flagship brand of the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation and its headquarters remain in the state where Amdavad is located.
Amul sees sport as an opportunity to help it grow internationally and is the official sponsor of the Indian Olympic Association. Before the FIFA World Cup this year, it also signed deals to be the official regional sponsor in India of both eventual finalists, Spain and Argentina.
Gujarat is also the home state of India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, and the Commonwealth Games is an event already strongly associated with him.
It will highlight India’s massive national sporting ambitions, including hosting the Olympics in 2036, and the cricket stadium in Amdavad named after Modi is set to be the centrepiece of Amdavad 2030.
Indian companies are expected to flock to support the Commonwealth Games to ensure they retain the support of Modi’s government.
This is behaviour known by economists as “fear and cheer”, driven by a mix of being seen to back major projects they know are important to Modi and a desire to avoid regulatory backlash if they are seen as anything less than supportive.
Among the companies officials will be hoping to secure early sponsorship from is the Adani Group, a giant Indian multinational business group whose services include transport logistics and whose headquarters are in the city.
Reliance Industries, a massive conglomerate owned by Asia’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, will be another company expected to back the event.
Ambani’s wife, Nita, is a member of the International Olympic Committee and called it a “proud moment” when India was awarded the Commonwealth Games last year.
She has regularly claimed the event is crucial to India’s ultimate goal of winning its bid to stage the Olympics, so she is certain to want it to be a big success.
Reliance Foundation Sports and Adani are already backing Team India at Glasgow 2026, along with Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, YES BANK and JSW Inspire.
They are all corporate giants that Amdavad 2030 will be confident of recruiting as top-tier sponsors to back a Commonwealth Games that seems certain to be significantly larger and much better funded than Glasgow 2026.
Australian swimmers earn more than million dollars in bonuses - Gina Rinehart’s company generated money in two hours
Billionaire mining magnate Gina Rinehart and her company Hancock Prospecting paid out a total of AUD$1,272,500 in cash bonuses to Australian swimmers and Para swimmers following their record-breaking Commonwealth Games performance at Glasgow 2026.
After six days of competition at the Tollcross International Swimming Centre, the Dolphins finished with their biggest-ever Commonwealth Games medal haul in the pool, winning 37 gold, 16 silver and 23 bronze medals.
Rinehart had promised every gold medallist $20,000, the silver medallists $15,000 and those who won a bronze $10,000. Athletes who broke a world record were also eligible for an extra $30,000 bonus.
Relay swimmers received $5,000 each for gold, $3,750 for silver and $2,500 for bronze, while those who competed only in the heats received half those amounts.
The money is set to hit the swimmers’ bank accounts next week.
Lani Pallister banked the most from Rinehart’s incentive scheme, earning $80,000 thanks to three gold medals in individual events - the 400 metres, 800m and 1500m freestyle - and one in the 4x200m relay and a silver in the 200m freestyle.
Samuel Short was the most successful male swimmer, earning $65,000 with gold medals in the 400m, 800m and 1500m freestyle events, plus being in the winning 4x200m freestyle relay.
“Few people, outside the swimming families, truly understand the years of hard work, discipline and sacrifice required to compete at this international level, but yet again, our Aussie swimmers punched well above our population size,” said Rinehart, who was not in Glasgow.
“This success also reflects the years of sacrifice from parents, coaches and volunteers behind the scenes who help the swimmers make these fantastic results possible.
“It’s a way of saying thank you and showing appreciation for their dedication and achievements, the pride they make Australians feel, right across our country, and for being the inspiring young ambassadors that they truly are.”
Australian swimmers have been banned from publicly thanking Rinehart during Glasgow 2026 for her support, as Hancock Prospecting are not an official Commonwealth Games Australia sponsor.
If you are curious, the amount of money that Rinehart is donating to the swimmers represents approximately 0.0033 per cent of her estimated net worth of $39 billion, making her the richest person in Australia.
Based on its most recent profits, it would have taken Hancock Prospecting a little over two hours to generate the money needed to pay the bonuses.
Quote of the day
“It doesn’t get any better than this. This is absolutely incredible. To do it in front of a Scottish crowd where I learned how to race. I came here week after week growing up as a kid”- Scotland’s world record holder Josh Kerr after winning the first Commonwealth Games mile since 1966 in a race at Scotstoun Stadium that lived up to the hype
Medal table - Day 9
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