Harrison leaves it late and survives Russian appeal

The British super-heavyweight Audley Harrison has progressed to the quarter-finals of his section despite an appeal by his Russian opponent, Alexei Lezin, against the referee's decision to halt their fight on Saturday.

Harrison was 8-6 down in the last round when he stopped Lezin with a blow to the head. The Algerian referee gave Lezin a full count, then refused to let him continue with only one minute and 10 seconds left - much to the annoyance of the Russian camp.

Afterwards Harrison said: "I thought he should have been allowed to carry on. But I hit him with one shot, a left cross, and he was definitely hurt. He was ready to go, it was a matter of following up."

However, Loring Baker, the general secretary of the International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA), said the result would stand.

"They claimed the referee had made an error but it boils down to a matter of judgment," he said. "You can't overturn a fight based on an official's judgment. The referee is in the ring and his first responsibility is the safety of the athlete."

Harrison's victory moves him on to a quarter-final pairing with the Ukrainian Oleksii Mazikan on Wednesday. A win in that fight would guarantee the London boxer a bronze medal.

Harrison's bout was not the only one to attract controversy at the weekend, with Moroccan and Canadian officials also venting their frustration yesterday.

The Moroccans claimed they were hard done by after their flyweight Hicham Mesbahi lost to the American Jose Navarro. Mesbahi flung himself to the canvas and pounded his fists in despair when the result was announced.

He thought he had won a place in the quarter-finals and left in tears, shaking his head in disbelief at his 12-9 loss after he had started the final round 7-6 ahead.

"Our boxer led the fight, unfortunately the judges did not do their jobs," said the Moroccan coach Mohammed Rais. "I don't know why they snatched this win from us."

Baker said he and the AIBA president Anwar Chowdhry had watched the fight on the monitor and "did not pick up anything that was glaring".

Canada later also expressed disbelief when the light-heavyweight Troy Amos-Ross was stopped against the Nigerian Jegbefumere Albert by a blow to the head.

There was no doubt that Amos-Ross, one of the top medal contenders on the team, had been hit, but he and his officials argued that he was fine to carry on fighting. "It's unbelievable what happened," he said.

However, Baker once again said the decision would not be overturned.

The weekend's controversy came after the AIBA revealed two judges had been spoken to about poor performances and voiced concerns about body shots not being scored.