Senior boxing official calls for Aiba President to resign following Rio 2016 controversies

A senior official has alleged deep-rooted corruption is undermining the credibility of the Olympic boxing tournament at Rio 2016. The Games has witnessed some questionable decisions in recent days and a source close to the top of amateur boxing has claimed the controversies prove that wrongdoing is "alive and well".

The insider has, therefore, called for urgent action by Aiba, the amateur sport's governing body. Indeed, it has been claimed that in order to end the alleged corruption, the Aiba's president, CK Wu, all of his administration and all of the officials at the Olympics would need to be forced out of the sport.

"As predicted," the source told the Guardian, "the corruption is alive and well and the decisions speak for themselves. It is clear that Aiba will not do anything about this. It is time now for the IOC to step in.

"President Wu needs to resign, as well as the executive director and the senior staff. Every RJ [referee and judge] and ITO [international technical official] needs to be suspended. That's the only way it's going to change."

The claims come shortly after Ireland's Michael Conlan accused Aiba of corruption "from the core right to the top" following his defeat in the bantamweight quarter-finals to Vladimir Nikitin of Russia. "They're f**king cheats," he said subsequently. "They're known for being cheats. Amateur boxing stinks from the core right to the top."

The Irishman, who was visibly enraged by the decision, added: "I'll never box in this competition again. If people watch this Olympic Games and they see some of the decisions ... I think boxing is dead. It's about whoever pays the most money. Whoever has the biggest [influence] wins."

Meanwhile, Billy Walsh, the USA head coach, said the dubious judging decisions have made Rio 2016's boxing competition the worst since 1988, when Roy Jones Jr lost a gold medal fight in controversial fashion. "We all wonder why we are out here working our socks off trying to get our guys ready," he told the Guardian.

"They give us the rules and we try to get our guys to adhere to those rules and then fight in that fashion and then we do and we don't get it. It's the worst games since 1988 when Roy Jones got robbed in the final."

An Aiba spokesman, on the other hand, rejected Walsh's accusation that there was any "favouritism" towards particular national federations. "That is something which we will have zero tolerance on at Aiba," the spokesperson said. "But, again, Billy Walsh is a very credible character in the boxing world, so we respect him immensely. A bit disappointed by these comments that you are making me aware of but all I can assure is that's not the case."