Oliver, a former European super-bantamweight champion and a well-known boxing analyst with Sky Sports, talkSPORT, and Boxer, has harshly criticised the quality of officiating at the Paris games.

With only one Team GB boxer advancing past the early rounds and five others being knocked out in their initial matches, Oliver believes the poor results stem from the judging rather than the competitors. “It’s been a terrible Olympics for the team,” Oliver told SportsBoom.com. “Disastrous really. But not because of performance levels, because of incompetent judges.”

He further explained, “Really, that’s what it is - incompetence. I actually feel really sorry for the people out there, who have put in so much work and then come out on the wrong end of some really bad decisions.” Fighters such as Charley Davison, Pat Brown, Delicious Orie, Chantelle Reid, and Rosie Eccles all lost via split decisions, with some bouts sparking particular controversy.

Oliver expressed his confusion over the scoring, especially in the cases of Rosie Eccles and Delicious Orie. “Rosie won the fight. How can you go into the final round level, the other girl gets a points deduction and doesn’t register a knockdown and still not get it? I can’t even understand the maths on that,” he remarked. 

He added, “Delicious should have won, although admittedly he came on a little late. Charley should have won, in my opinion and the opinion of many other people, as well. Chantelle should have won as well. No doubt about it.” At 49, Oliver, who won a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games before turning professional in 1995, suggests that improving the quality of judging is simple. 

“One of the changes you could make is to get judges who know what they’re doing, pure and simple. Really, it’s that easy.” He continued, “Just get competent judges in there. How can a casual fan, and also people who watch a lot of boxing, think that one person won a fight, like Orie, and then get a handful of people who thought differently? Not everyone else can be wrong and you can be right.”

Oliver also believes that controversial decisions should be reviewed. “There’s some weird stuff going on for me. If you come up with a decision like that, you need to go in front of a board or a governing body and explain it, outline how you came to give a particular score.”

As the British Olympic Association evaluates future funding based on performance, Oliver hopes the judging controversies will be considered. “There’s talk about boxing going out of the Olympics after Los Angeles in 2028,” he said.

The great debate, what’s your thoughts? Check out this week talkBOXING with myself and @MbeDuke Enjoy 🥊🔥 https://t.co/5uFU7zITIm pic.twitter.com/SW7kcLiKAQ

— Spencer Oliver (@SpencerOliver) July 28, 2024

“I really hope it doesn’t and it shouldn’t because boxing is a part of the history of the games. But there’s something going on and it just doesn’t sit right with me. There’s been some controversy out there in Paris, that is for sure. There’s always controversy surrounding boxing and the Olympics.”

Earlier in the boxing, Spain's Enmanuel Reyes Pla took pride in securing a bronze medal, ending a 24-year Olympic boxing drought for his country, but he was also overwhelmed with frustration and confusion. Despite a strong performance in the ring and feeling confident of a win, Reyes Pla was dismayed when the judges awarded victory to his opponent, Loren Berto, who had been evasive and controlled the fight's pace without engaging aggressively.

Reyes Pla voiced his discontent to Eurosport after the bout, saying, “I feel good, even though the result was not the ideal one. Boxing is going downhill because of the referees; I don't know what they're scoring. I'm happy to have an Olympic medal. I wanted to change its color, but the referees wouldn't let me. I thought I was better than my opponent. But they decide,” Reyes added.