Teddy Atlas applauds Iranian fighter leaving ring in protest

Teddy Atlas, NBC's resident Olympic boxing expert and television analyst has been critical of the boxing judges throughout the 2012 London Games but went ballistic on the referee after Iran's Ali Mazaheri was disqualified during the Men's (91kg) Round of 16 against Cuba's Jose Larduet Gomez in the first round.

Mazaheri (blue) was so angry at his DQ, he refused to honor his opponent at the winner's ceremony at the end of the shortened fight and left the ring in protest.

Atlas called the Olympic boxing system "corrupt" and applauded the Iranian fighter when he refused to go to the center of the ring for the ceremony and called him "a gentleman, a real gentleman" to go over to his opponent's corner and shake the coaches hands before climbing through the ropes and out of the ring.

Gomez was left standing alone with the Uzbekistan referee holding his taped hand up in the air as the winner while the crowd booed and whistled their displeasure.

The 30-year old Mazaheri had high hopes going into this Olympics and was the flagbearer for the Iranian delegation at Friday's opening ceremonies.

At the time of his disqualification, Mazaheri was leading 6-4.