A teenage boxer has been banned for life after a vicious attack on a referee who stopped his fight.

Croatian Vido Loncar's attack put Polish referee Mageja Dziurgota in hospital.

It happened during the aftermath of a European Youth Boxing Championships bout in Zagreb.

The 18-year-old initially returned to his corner calmly after Mr Dziurgota deemed his Lithuanian opponent Algirdas Baniulis to be the winner.

But seconds later Loncar floored the referee with a punch to the head before unleashing several further blows.

Loncar was dragged out of the ring by his ankles and according to his federation was arrested.

In a statement, the Croatian Boxing Federation said its executive board "met in an emergency session and reached a decision on the suspension and lifelong exile from boxing of boxer Vido Loncar.

''Until the end of the investigation the executive committee has also suspended the trainers who were at ringside for the terrible event," it added.

The referee remains in hospital.

Footage of the incident has been viewed almost two million times on YouTube.

The Croatian Boxing Federation apologised for the "brutal" attack and said Loncar would not fight again.

But Croatian boxing director Zeljko Mavrovic said: "I believe that he is not a butcher or as bad as this act makes him look. This was part of his excessive ambition in that moment."