NamibiaSport

Namibia’s Japhet Uutoni suffered a controversial defeat to Lukas Maszczyk of Poland on Saturday.

The score was tied at 5-5 at the end of four rounds, but Maszczyk was adjudged to be the winner after a recount.

Although it was not clear how they reached the final decision, the final decision was most probably influenced after cautions against boxers were taken into account.

The secretary general of the Namibia Boxing Federation, Joe Kaperu told Namibia Sport that the cautions by the referee against boxers are taken into account if boxers are tied.

“Cautions don’t normally count towards points, but if boxers are tied they come into effect,” he said.

“I didn’t see the fight, but if Uutoni lost out after a draw then it really is very unfortunate,” he said.

Closely contested fight

In a closely contested fight Uutoni took a 1-0 lead at the end of round one, and remained 2-1 ahead after two rounds.

Maszczyk took a slight 2-1 lead in the third round to tie the scores at 3-all, before the boxers tied the final round at 2-all for the fight to end in a 5-all stalemate.

Maszczyk now progresses to the quarterfinals of the 48kg category, while Uutoni’s campaign comes to an end. Namibia’s two other boxers at the Olympics, Mejandjae Kasuto and Julius Indongo both lost their first round fights.