Yohan ROBLIN –
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There was a bit of Mike Tyson in him. Beaten 5-0 by New Zealander David Nyika on Tuesday, July 27, in the ring of the Kokugikan Arena, Moroccan boxer Youness Baalla did not offer his best face. to say the least. When the third round resumed, he lost his temper and tried to bite the ear of his opponent, who managed to free himself in time. A sequence light years away from the spirit of Olympism, advocated by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Games.
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He had his mouth guard and I was a little sweaty
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“I don’t think the referee saw it”, explained the New Zealand boxer, dismayed by the gesture of incomprehensible mood of the Moroccan. “He didn’t have a full bite. Luckily he had his mouth guard on and I was a little sweaty. I don’t remember what I said to him, but I stuck my cheek on him a bit. . I was once bitten in the chest at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. But this is the Olympics. ” His bite attempt did not go unpunished, however, as Youness Baalla was symbolically disqualified after his defeat. After missing the incident, officials determined that the Moroccan boxer “very clearly intended to bite his opponent’s ear / face.”
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Taken in flu on social networks by the New Zealand community, Youness Baalla split an Instagram post. “To all the people coming from New Zealand, with all due respect to this country, you don’t respect yourself”, he wrote. “I will not respond to any bad DMs or comments from you and sorry to have great things awaiting me.” David Nyika later called on his followers not to contact his opponent if they did “nothing nice to say”. “The heat of the moment can bring the best and the worst of people”, he added, evoking “the frustration he may have felt”. “It’s part of the sport.”
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