Croatian Vido Loncar has been banned for life by his national federation after assaulting a referee following a bout at the European Youth Boxing Championships in Zagreb.

The 18-year-old home fighter was stopped by Polish referee Mageja Dziurgota in his light-heavyweight clash with Lithuanian Algirdas Baniulis on Monday, and initially returned calmly to his corner.

But after the fight verdict was confirmed Loncar launched a vicious attack on Dziurgota, flooring him with one punch to the head before raining in a flurry of further shots.

Loncar was dragged out of the ring by his feet and according to his federation he was arrested, while his victim was taken to hospital.

Footage of the shocking incident has been viewed over 200,000 times on YouTube, and the Croatian Boxing Federation has vowed Loncar will not fight again.

It announced: "We apologise to the world boxing organisation - AIBA - and the European boxing organisation - EUBC, to the International Olympic Committee, the Croatian Olympic Committee, the Ministry of Education and the Office of Education and Sport in the city of Zagreb for the brutal attack on an official by the Croatian national team representative and the damage to boxing that is caused by the act."

The statement, widely published in the Croatia media, added: "The executive board of the Croatian Boxing Federation 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."

"We are deeply apologetic to the family of boxing referee Mageja Dziurgota who is still in hospital. Vido Loncar is in custody and we trust the Croatian institutions to do their job."