It was a theory long suspected, but a report into Michael Conlan's defeat at the 2016 Rio Olympics has claimed that the Irishman's fight against his Russian opponent was fixed.

The report tabled by the Irish Athletic Boxing Association said that Irish management were told that Conlan's quarter final loss to Vladimir Nikitin was among a number of fights which were fixed.

Pundit Arena reported that IABA president Joe Hennigan, who at the time of the Olympics was the Ireland team manager, was told that Conlan's chance of a medal was 'gone.'

This claim was made by Ireland head coach Zauri Anita, who had in turn heard it from one of the Russian coaches.

In Hennigan's report, he wrote: “We went back to the village that evening and Zauri informed me that the Russian coach had told him that Michael Conlan’s medal was gone as were others and we would want to protect our boxers.

"It was sickening to think we definitely lost two contests (Conlan and Katie Taylor) because of corruption and you would argue Joe Ward’s one as well with bad refereeing.”

After the contentious fight, which he was adjudged to have lost unanimously, Conlan reacted with anger, raising his middle finger to the judges and then delivering a furious expletive laden tirade live on Irish TV, where he accused amateur boxing authorities of corruption.

If to emphasise the point of shady dealings, every judge who participated in the 2016 Olympics were suspended by the International Amateur Boxing Association.

Conlan, who had a decorated amateur career, winning Bronze in the London Olympics in the flyweight division, stepped up his performance in the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, where he won gold in bantamweight, defeating Englishman Qais Ashfaq.

The 26-year-old also took out the bamtamweight division at the 2015 European Championships again defeating Ashfaq in the title fight.

For those who don't remember the suspicious Conlan fight, you can watch it below.

After Brazil, Conlan decided to head into the professional ranks and currently has a 5-0 record (4 by KO).

His next fight comes against David Berna from Hungary (15-2) in New York on Saturday evening.