Croatian boxer handed life ban for punching referee

A clip of the incident, which happened at the European Youth Boxing Championships in Zagreb on Monday, has had more than two million views on You Tube.

A screen grab from a video of the event. (YouTube)

AIBA said on Wednesday that they had barred the light-heavyweight from all competition, and revoked his coaches' certifications, pending a meeting of its disciplinary commission.

Loncar punched referee Maciej Dziurgot on the head after initially returning to his corner when the fight against Lithuanian Algirdas Baniulis was stopped.

The boxer then continued punching the referee on the floor before being dragged from the ring by his feet and arrested by police. The referee was taken to hospital.

"AIBA and the entire boxing family have zero tolerance for this sort of behaviour," said AIBA president Ching-Kuo Wu.

AIBA said the president had also told the Polish Boxing Association in a letter that "he had learned that the boxer had allegedly been encouraged by his local club coach to hit the referee."

"I would like to send you my strongest commitments to apply all possible measurements to punish and remove all individuals who brought AIBA and our sport down, as well as to prevent this type of incident from taking place in our competitions ever again," he said.

(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Pritha Sarkar)