The Court of Arbitration for Sport said that there may have been "the possibility of a technical error by the referee" when Mourad Aliev was disqualified for headbutting his British opponent Frazer Clarke in their super heavyweight quarter-final on Sunday.

But CAS said on Tuesday that since the decision was taken during the fight the disqualification would stand.

"The panel of arbitrators in charge of the matter has rejected the application filed at the CAS Ad Hoc Division on 2 August 2021 by the French boxer Mourad Aliev in relation to the decision taken by the referee to disqualify him," CAS said in its decision.

Although the CAS panel did not rule out the possibility of a technical error by the referee, it said it "eventually decided to confirm the challenged decisions in view of the fact that the referee's decision to disqualify Mourad Aliev took place on the field of play".

Clarke had cuts above both eyes and was bleeding when the referee deemed an intentional headbutt by Aliev, stopping the fight with four seconds left in the second round.

Aliev was outraged by the decision, spitting out his mouth guard and kicking it before punching at a TV camera.

He then sat down ring-side, hardly moving for half an hour on the canvas just outside the ropes and above the steps leading down to the arena floor.

He then departed to speak with officials, only to return and sit at the same spot about 15 minutes later.

"This was my way of showing that the decision was so unfair," Aliev said afterwards through a translator.

Clarke will fight Uzbeki Bakhodir Jalolov in Wednesday's semi-final.

Australian Associated Press