America's medal hopes in the men's Olympic boxing competition appeared over when Vikas was initially named as the winner of the bout in a 13-11 decision last night.

However, USA Boxing appealed to AIBA with the world governing body deciding to overturn the result in the early hours of this morning after reviewing the fight via video due to that fact that the referee had missed fouls from the Indian which should have been penalised.

"There were a total of nine holding fouls committed by the Indian boxer in the third round alone but the referee only gave one caution," said an AIBA statement.

"In the second round, at the time 02:38, the boxer from India spitted out his gumshield intentionally.

"However the referee didn't give any warning, with his view blocked by the boxer from the USA."

"At least four points should have been awarded to the boxer from the USA.

"Therefore the final score should be 13-15 in favour of the USA.

"The protest is accepted and the winner of bout 142 is Errol Spence."

Krishan Vikas of India in action with Errol Spence of United States at London's ExCeL

The American admitted his relief at the appeal.

"I take nothing away from the Indian boxer," Spence told insidethegames.

"He is the top seed and a great boxer but I felt I won the fight and video evidence showed that I did.

"It wasn't really anyone's fault that he was awarded the win but I am glad we have this appeal system to clear these things up."

The decision means that two boxing bouts have been overturned at the Olympics, the most ever in a single tournament under the new scoring system introduced by AIBA President CK Wu shortly after he came into the position in 2006.

The first bout overturned was the bantamweight clash between Azerbaijan's Magomed Abdulhamidov and Japan's Satoshi Shimizu, which saw the Azeri hit the canvas six times in the last round but declared the winner.

Referee Ishanguly Meretnyyazov of Turkmenistan was expelled from the competition for not penalising Abdulhamidov despite his repeated attempts to waste time.

Referee Ishanguly Meretny missed cricual fouls in the fight between Magomed Abdulhamidov and Satoshi Shimizu

The latest successful appeal means that Spence will be carrying the US medal hopes in the men's event on his own.

It marks a steep decline in amateur boxing in the American, the most successful ever nation in the sport at the Olympics.

Previous American Olympic boxing champions include the most famous boxer of all time, Muhammad Ali - who won the light heavyweight gold medal at Rome 1960 Olympics under the name of Cassius Clay.

Other notable names include George Foreman, who won the heavyweight gold medal at Mexico City in 1968, and Sugar Ray Leonard, winner of the light welterweight title at Montreal in 1976.

However, they have struggled in recent years and only won a bronze medal at Beijing 2008 through heavyweight Deontay Wilder.

"It is disappointing," said Spence on the failure of his highly rated team in London.

"I think we are taught to fight more with a professional style in America so this points system doesn't really suit us.

"But I know they [AIBA] are trying to become more professional so I think that will definitely help America going forward.

"But either way, I'm in the quarter-final and I'm going hard for gold."

Britain's Tom Stalker celebrates his victorious fight with India's Manjor Kumar to reach the quarter-final

Britain's Tom Stalker also became the subject of mild controversy when he defeated India's Manoj Kumar 20-16 to reach the light-welterweight quarter-finals.

"This is not an Olympic tournament, this is a district tournament," said Kumar, who won gold at light-welterweight at the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games.

"Cheating, cheating, cheating."

However, India did not launch a protest and many ringside experts said they felt Stalker had won a competitive fight.

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