Turkish fans attack a boxer with Azerbaijani roots in the ring in Istanbul
The fight for the vacant WBC Silver super heavyweight belt between Turkey's Umut Chamkiran and the French boxer Murad Aliyev, who according to media reports has Azerbaijani roots, ended in a mass brawl.
Aliyev won on points, after which he made a gesture toward the stands that spectators took as insulting. Fans broke through onto the ring and attacked the winner, and the scuffle spread through the entire arena.
The fight took place on Saturday evening, Nov. 7, at Istanbul's Ulker Sports Arena in the Atashehir district. The Turkish press judged the twelve rounds an even contest right up to the final bell: Chamkiran stepped up the pressure toward the end, but the judges gave the win to Aliyev. Some spectators on social media called the bout boring, but it came to be discussed for quite another reason.
For Chamkiran the defeat was the first of his career. The 37-year-old boxer, a professional since 2013, had won all 25 of his previous fights, 23 of them by knockout, and had counted on a win bringing him closer to a world title bout. He prepared for the fight at home in Tunceli, and said before it that his only goal was victory. Aliyev, a two-time WBC International Silver titleholder, came into the fight with 15 wins and one defeat.
Immediately after the decision was announced, Aliyev went to the ropes and, facing the stands, made a gesture toward his groin. The video spread across social media. The newspaper Sozcu called his behavior mocking and provocative. Several fans broke through the security cordon, climbed over the ropes and threw themselves at the boxer. According to a number of outlets, Aliyev was beaten. Members of both fighters' teams, security staff and officials were drawn into the fight. The international channel ProBox TV, which was broadcasting the bout, also reported the mass brawl.
The scuffle quickly moved beyond the ring and spread to various parts of the arena. Video shows people chasing one another and hurling chairs. Those who tried to separate the fighters ended up in the middle of the melee themselves. According to the outlet Haber Ege, the exact nature of the gesture and all the stages of the brawl have yet to be established by independent sources.
The American portal TotalProSports describes the start of the conflict differently. By its account, after the final bell Aliyev tried to embrace his opponent, but Chamkiran refused, the boxers began exchanging words, and the Turkish athlete punched Aliyev in the face. Aliyev responded, the referee tried to separate them, and then trainers, fans and staff joined the fight.
The WBC said the evening was organized by Ahmet Oner's company Arena Boxing together with RMO Boxing and ProBox TV. Among the organizers was also Birol Topuz, Chamkiran's longtime promoter. Turkish journalists are asking how fans were able to reach the ring unimpeded, whether there were enough security staff and whether coordination with the police had been arranged in advance. The organizers have so far made no comment on what happened. Nor is it known whether the WBC will examine the incident.
Aliyev was born in 1995 in Moscow. At the age of six he moved with his family to France, where he was granted political refugee status, and French citizenship after he came of age. His father was also a boxer. For the French national team Aliyev won silver at the 2019 European Games and competed at the Tokyo Olympics. There he was disqualified in the quarterfinal for a head butt, and in protest sat for about an hour on the ring. The French side insisted at the time that the referee had made a mistake.
The Turkish press has described Aliyev in different ways. Sozcu and most outlets refer to him as a French boxer, while SON TV ran a headline about an "Azerbaijani boxer" whose gesture threw everything into chaos. This framing has emerged against the backdrop of tension between Baku and Ankara over new school uniform requirements in Azerbaijan that banned elements of religious dress for pupils. The decision drew a wave of criticism in Turkey. Oktay Saral, chief adviser to the Turkish president, publicly called on Baku to reverse it, and in Azerbaijan this was seen as interference in the country's internal affairs. In late October Saral left his post, by his own account at Erdogan's instruction.
In some Turkish headlines Murad Aliyev remained a Frenchman. In others, published in the same hours, he became an Azerbaijani.
