The 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games became the center of a small but heated controversy after Ugandan boxer Aziz Abdul, the grandson of former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, claimed he was wrongfully disqualified from his bout on racial grounds. Abdul, who goes by the nickname “Ringo” in the ring, asserted that the decision to strip him of the match was rooted in anti-Black African bias and made solely to favor his English opponent, Damar Thomas.
Games organizers have rapidly pushed back against these allegations, refuting the claim that bias played any role in the referee’s call. According to official match records, the disqualification came after the referee judged Abdul to have deliberately headbutted Thomas during the contest, a move that violates international amateur boxing rules set for the Commonwealth Games tournament.
Prior to the controversial bout, Abdul had spoken openly with BBC reporters about his connection to his infamous grandfather, a topic that has drawn extra media attention to his first Commonwealth Games appearance. Amin, who ruled Uganda from 1971 to 1979, is widely infamously remembered for mass human rights abuses, ethnic persecution, and economic mismanagement that left the East African nation deeply destabilized. Despite this controversial family legacy, Abdul has sought to build his own career as an elite athlete, competing on the global stage independent of his grandfather’s political reputation.
The controversy remains contained to the single bout, with no broader calls for review of other judging decisions at the Games as of the latest updates.