Memories of Rio opening night will remain with Paddy Barnes forever

BETWEEN having his phone stolen, being stung for 22 tins of Guinness at a Rio nightspot and seeing a decapitated cardboard cut-out of himself, it has been a hard enough few weeks for Paddy Barnes.

That’s before you even get to the Olympic Games, where Barnes has been forced to watch from the sidelines as Irish boxers fell one by one – some in more controversial circumstances than others – in the aftermath of his shock exit on August 8.

Lazing around on the Copacabana beach wasn’t what he had pencilled in for this fortnight, with the Holy Family fighter travelling to Brazil determined to finally add gold to the bronze medals won in Beijing eight years ago and at London 2012.

But it wasn’t to be. Having his phone stolen added insult to injury, and then there’s the Guinness…

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“I was at an Irish pub, Shenanigans, it’s the best spot in Rio without a doubt,” says Barnes, taking up the tale.

“But when you’re leaving you fill in a wee card saying what you’ve been drinking. They said I had 22 tins of Guinness.

“I said to the guy ‘if I had 22 tins of Guinness I wouldn’t be able to stand you eejit’.

“But it ended up I had to pay for it! Unbelievable.”

And then, late on Thursday night, an image started doing the rounds of a headless Barnes – with friend and fellow fighter Jamie Conlan quick to sink the boot in, tweeting: “Brilliant, and to rub salt in the wound a lovely picture of Zou Shiming [Barnes’s nemesis in 2008 and 2012] in the background.”

Barnes can laugh off such incidents. Compared to the disappointment of failing to do what he wanted to do at these Olympics, they are small beer.

The 29-year-old arrived in Rio as favourite to stand on top of the podium at the end of the light-flyweight competition and, despite appearing to do enough to progress against world number 26-ranked Samuel Carmona, saw his dreams ended before they began.

It took a few days for the magnitude of that defeat to really sink in – even thinking about it now still hurts. Barnes bemoaned his struggles to make the 49 kilogram weight limit in the immediate aftermath, but it was the short turnaround from weigh-in to fight that really killed him.

He said: “I wasn’t making the weight, I was fighting three hours after the weigh-in – something I’ve never done.

“I feel the same way making weight as I have done since I was 16, making 49 kilo. I’m always drained, really tired the day before but, because I have plenty of time to refuel and hydrate, that’s why I’m so fit in the ring.

“Because it was so close, it just caught me and I was f**ked. I didn’t even hydrate properly because I thought I’d have to weigh-in two days later.

“It’s crazy to fight so close to the weigh-in.”

Paddy Barnes has been supporting other members of Team Ireland while in Rio

Plenty of questions were asked following Barnes’s surprise exit. If he had such difficulties making the weight, why didn’t he move up after the 2014 Commonwealth Games and try to qualify at 52kg?

Who’s decision was it for Barnes to enter the World Series of Boxing (WSB) – through which he achieved his Olympic qualification in the spring of 2015 – as a light-fly?

Former Irish coach Billy Walsh was still in charge then and told The Irish News earlier this week that it was never an option for Barnes to move up.

“He’s too small for it,” said the Wexford man, who has overseen a successful Olympic campaign as head coach of Team USA.

“He went up in 2013 at the World Championships, when he wasn’t supposed to go up, and he was too small. He looked small against that Spaniard.”

Barnes says what happened was nobody’s fault, rather just a case of back luck with the time of the weigh-ins, while the decision to stay at 49 kilograms for his final shot at Olympic glory was one that he supported.

“I was so successful at 49,” he said.

“I’m one of the biggest 49s in the world, but I’d still be one of the biggest 52s in the world so it wouldn’t have made any difference.

“I am a lot bigger, I’m a lot more muscular because of the way I’m training. But making 49’s really really tough, it’s hard. If I move up a weight it would be easier, I would enjoy the sport more.”

Some difficult decisions lie ahead. Having been such a successful amateur for so long, moving on just a year short of 30 represents a serious challenge.

But if there’s one thing Paddy Barnes loves, it’s the chance to prove people wrong.

Once again though, his own personal misfortune means he must wait until he’s back in Belfast before truly examining all his options when it comes to a possible move into the professional ranks.

As we reported yesterday, Michael Conlan was inundated by some of the biggest names in the sport in the days after his controversial Olympic exit to Vladimir Nikitin, with the likes of Golden Boy Promotions and Al Haymon – considered the most powerful man in boxing – among those showing interest on the other side of the pond.

It has been quieter Barnes’s end, though not through any fault of his own.

“I’ll sort it out when I come home. Mick’s had a few people phoning him but nobody can phone me – my phone got stole on me sure.”

Despite the Games overall being a massive disappointment for the Irish boxing team, and for Barnes, the one golden memory the north Belfast man can cling to is the night he carried the Irish flag into the famous Maracana Stadium for the opening ceremony of the Rio Olympics.

“The only thing I’m taking back from Rio is carrying the flag,” he added. “That’s my medal, unfortunately. I was so chuffed and over the moon to do that, I really was.

“But it still doesn’t take away from the disappointment. I should’ve won a medal – I should’ve won gold.”