Boxing: European Olympic Qualifiers
BELFAST flyweight Brendan Irvine came up short in the last four of the European Olympic Qualifiers yesterday – but has another chance to book his spot in Brazil in a Rio 2016 box-off today.
On the day that Katie Taylor lost for the first time in five years, defeats for Irvine and fellow Olympic hopeful David Oliver Joyce made it a day to forget for Irish boxing.
But while Taylor must now qualify for Rio through the World Championships in Kazakhstan next month, Irvine and Joyce have unfinished business in Turkey.
The pair will both face the defeated semi-finalist from the other side of their respective draws in a winner-takes-all box-off, with an Olympic place the prize on offer.
Nineteen-year-old Irvine lost out to tough Armenian Narek Abgaryan after a close three rounds, and faces Daniel Asenov today. The Bulgarian lost to Britain’s Muhammad Ali in the other 52kg semi-final yesterday afternoon.
Irvine started strongly with a nice left-right combination during a cagey first round, with Abgaryan coming on strong from the halfway point, stalking Irvine with left hooks and big right hands over the top.
Twenty-four-year-old Abgaryan effectively sealed the deal in the second round, landing a big left hook early on that appeared to rock the Belfast man momentarily, and going on to land the more eye-catching shots before the bell.
Trailing 20-18 on all three cards heading into the final round, Irvine came on strong, landing a number of good combinations on Abgaryan.
In the final seconds he connected with a flurry of punches to the face of his opponent, who dropped his guard as if he thought he had heard the final bell when in fact it was the clapper indicating the final 10 seconds.
Lightweight Joyce, meanwhile, cut a disappointed figure after losing out to Welshman Joe Cordina.
The St Michael’s, Athy fighter looked to have won the second round and possibly the third, but the judges thought otherwise and he will take on Volkan Gockek in the box-off.
The biggest story of the day, though, was Taylor’s shock defeat – and the 2012 Olympic gold medallist has vowed to “come again” after suffering a convincing 39-37 defeat to Azerbaijan's Yana Alekseevna.
"I'm obviously very disappointed," said the Bray boxer. "I always go to these competitions with the aim of bringing back a gold medal.
"The loss came at the wrong time for me today but she's a fantastic boxer and you can't take it away from her. She deserved it today but I'll come again.
"The last couple of times we've boxed it's been a very close contest. There's very little between the two of us really and the difference between winning and losing is marginal. I don't know what went wrong today, it was just one of those days.
"I'll just go home, take a couple of days off and then get back into training and prepare for the World Championships.
"Thank God I have another chance to go and qualify and I'm going to do everything I can do to book my place in Rio."
