Michael Conlan was left devastated after losing an Olympic quarter-final that he and most commentators thought he had won by a decent margin.

In the immediate aftermath of Monday’s decision, he blasted the AIBA, amateur boxing’s ruling body. Speaking live on television he said: “They’re cheats. They’re f***ing cheats. That’s me (done). I’m never fighting for AIBA again.

“Amateur boxing stinks, right from the core all the way to the top.”

He has recovered his equilibrium in the days since but remains highly critical of the organisation and feels it needs total reform.

“It stinks. I believe the whole system of amateur boxing at the minute is – Olympic boxing especially – is stinking,” he said on Newstalk’s Off The Ball last night. “I think the IOC need to have a look at boxing in the Olympics and wonder should it even be in Tokyo.

“If I was a young boxer watching the Olympics, I don’t think I’d want to be there.”

Shameful judging again of an Irish boxer at #Rio2016. First @KatieTaylor and now @mickconlan11 . Makes a mockery of the whole event 👎

— colin murray (@ColinMurray) August 16, 2016

The Irish camp are left wondering if there is something behind what they feel were a series of harsh decisions in Rio.

Irish former boxing judge Seamus Kelly made detailed allegations of AIBA corruption in the Guardian earlier this month.

“Before the Games, we got the bad feeling that with an ex-Irish referee, who was part of AIBA, and came out and outed them, that they were going to come down hard on us for him coming out and having his say,” Conlan said.

Yesterday the AIBA announced they had reviewed the judging at the Games and “determined that less than a handful of the decisions were not at the level expected.”

They would not however specify which matches caused concern and added that “In accordance with AIBA rules the result of all the bouts will stand.”

Conlan felt that his referee was against him from the start.

“I was only stepping into the ring and she comes over and checks my gloves and my gumshield and she says ‘Keep your head up’,” he explained on Off The Ball. “Why would you say ‘Keep your head up’ when I haven’t even started boxing.

“Throughout the fight, she was always on me, saying to me ‘Keep your head up, Conlan, keep your head up… one more and I’m going to warn you’. So you were on thin ice the whole time.”

You can listen back to the full interview on the Off The Ball Podcast.