Moroccan boxer, Youness Baalla, allegedly tried to chomp off his Kiwi opponent David Nyika‘s ear at the Tokyo Olympics, in a heated boxing fight today, 27th July 2021.
According to some reports, Baalla was having a hard time against the two-time Commonwealth Games gold medalist, Nyika at the boxing ring. The Kiwi athlete won the first two rounds with ease when Baalla went for his opponent’s ear during the third and final round.
Nyika escaped unhurt after he managed to pull out in time and Baalla got his cheek instead. The fight continued and Nyika cruised to victory with a 5-0 win, thereby making it to the quarter-final.
The Moroccan boxer reportedly escaped with a warning after his wild act and the commentator exclaimed: “That could have been an act of absolute madness.”
Well, the video soon went viral on social media, and several remembered American boxer Tyson when the former world champion bit the ear of his opponent, Evander Holyfield during a 1997 bout. It was infamously referred to as “the Bite Fight” or “the Bite of 97”.
Social Media users troll Baalla
Several people have taken to social media to troll Baalla. According to them, Baalla should have just forfeited and ended the game in peace instead of getting into such a “disgraceful moment”.
As if that wasn’t enough, some started calling him names like “vampire”, “Mike Tyson II” and “Maneater”.
Some also averred that they are not surprised that Baalla wanted to bite his opponents’ ear since according to them he knew he was losing the game.
Some were of the view that this is a “rock-solid example of someone whose goal at #Tokyo2020 wasn’t to win gold, but go viral on social media”.
After the fight, Nyika expressed his surprise at the incident, especially at the referee missing it. The 25-year-old boxer, Nyika in an interview told a local TV station:
“Did you see that? I don’t think the ref saw it. She was the closest one. I didn’t think he’d [Baalla] get away with it. He tried to bite my cheekbone… He probably just got a mouthful of sweat”.
Baalla calls out Kiwi fans to stop hate speech
Meanwhile, with Baalla’s exit from the Games overshadowed by this incident, He called out Kiwi fans sending him hate messages on his Instagram account. Baalla wrote on his Instagram story:
“To all the people coming from New Zealand… with all my respect to this country but you’re not showing respect to yourselves. I will not answer any bad DM or comment from you and sorry I have big things waiting for me”.
Nyika also came out in support of Baalla who was receiving hate speech for his actions and said “this is part of the sport.”
“The heat of battle can bring the best AND the worst out of people. I have nothing but respect for my opponent and can appreciate the frustration he must have felt. Please don’t reach out to him if you have nothing nice to say”.
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