GOLDEN FINISH TO A GREAT GAMES FOR GB AND IRELAND’S BOXING FRATERNITY – PART I
By: Peter Mann, Head UK & Eire Editor
It was supposed to be the Games that boxing came of age, more so with the addition of women’s boxing for the first time. For the USA though this was not meant to be, but for all those connected to Team GB and Team Ireland, it catapulted them into the realms of near greatness.
The semi finals of the men’s boxing tournament would see three from Team Ireland and four from Team GB in action, the losers of which would be guaranteed a Bronze medal, the winners going on to compete for the Gold Medal, or Silver if unsuccessful.
It was to be that of the Irish contingent that were out first as Paddy Barnes took to the ring to face China’s Zou Shiming. Losing the first round 8-5, Barnes recovered to tie in the second to give him a glimmer of hope. The last round went the Irishman’s way as he overturned the deficit put before him; however, it wasn’t to be enough for victory as, with the scores level at 15-15, the judges granted victory to Barnes’ opponent by virtue of the count-back system. Barnes had taken the last round 7-4 to ensure a slim chance of progression, but victory was snatched away and it was a scant reward that he would claim the BRONZE medal.
Next up for Ireland was the great young hope in John Joe Nevin, and he gave the performance of his life against his Cuban counterpart, Lazaro Alvarez Estrada. It was such a performance from Nevin that he would unfortunately fall just short in the Gold medal bout. Nevin, as the number 5 seed going into the tournament, more than took the fight to his opponent and had him reeling from the off. Estrada, as the reigning world champion and number one seed, had no answer real answer to Nevin’s speed, movement and attack. This showed as Nevin took all three rounds of the bout, with only the second round being close. Nevin progressed with an impressive 19-14 score (5-3, 7-6, 7-5) and would face the victor of the next bout.
That next bout would see the appearance of Team GB’s Luke Campbell and Japan’s Satoshi Shimzu pair off for the right to face Nevin. Could it really be GB against Ireland in the Bantamweight final? Campbell ensured that would happen with a devastating performance, taking all three rounds in a very convincing fashion to win by nine overall, 20-11 (5-2, 6-4, 9-5).
The following two semi-finals would unfortunately see two further defeats with one from GB and one from Ireland falling by the wayside. First in the Middleweight’s, medal hopeful Anthony Ogogo, went up against Brazilian Falcao Florentino Esquiva and, although the first was tied at three and Ogogo took the second by three, it wasn’t meant to be. The Brit laboured in the third and paid heavily for it, Esquiva overturning the three point deficit and added to it, taking the round 7-3 and the bout with a convincing 19-6 score.
Then it was the turn of Ireland’s flyweight, Michael Conlan, to fall. Conlan’s defeat was not necessarily a disgrace, not that any loss was in all honesty. However, Conlan was up against a very strong, engaging and combative opponent in the Cuban, Robeisy Ramirez Carrazana, whom had already despatched GB’s Andrew Selby in the previous round. The Cuban took all three rounds this time (having only taken two against Selby), with the third being the hardest one to swallow with a crushing 10-4 in the Cuban’s favour. That final round would mean that Conlan’s Games were over on the back of a 20-10 loss. However, as is in the Olympics, losing semi-finalists all receive a medal so both Ogogo and Conlan claimed credible BRONZE to add to the earlier one collected by Barnes.
So, with five semis concluded and only two progressions, it was left to the young Freddie Evans at Welterweight and the experienced Anthony Joshua at Super Heavyweight, to put proceedings back on track. Both bouts were heart in mouth affairs but they would be both victorious as they guaranteed them at least Silver on home soil.
First out was the Welshman, Freddie Evans, against the Ukrainian Taras Shelestyuk. Evans came out firing and probably tired himself too soon when taking the first round 4-1 and with the second ties it was a nervy final round, and it showed. The Ukrainian increased his dominance over the tiring Evans and nearly snatched victory. An extra point would have seen a count-back and that is dangerous in any one’s eyes. However, the Ukrainian only took the last round by two points, 5-3 and, to the delight of the crowd in the Excel; Evans progressed to the Gold medal bout with an 11-10 victory, and writing himself into Welsh boxing history in doing so.
The last of the semi-final bouts would be the Super Heavyweight clash between GB’s Anthony Joshua and the Kazakhstan powerhouse, Ivan Dychko. This bout would see the tournament number two (Joshua) and number three (Dychko) seeds face each other in one semi, whilst the number one and four seeds oppose in the other. Joshua was not to be denied his chance at greatness though, but it was a really tight call, even after the opening two rounds both fighters could not be separated. For all Joshua did Dychko countered, and vice versa. This was obvious when the scores from the first, and then second, were both tied at 4-4. That set up an intriguing final round with the fighters needing splitting over the ensuing three minutes. The cream though would eventually rise to the top, but only just, Joshua edging himself in front to take the round, and ultimately the bout, by a small two point margin, 5-3 on the round for a 13-11 success.
The semis were complete and four boxers, three from Team GB and one from Ireland were in the Gold medal bouts. And one of those bouts was a clash between the two, GB vs. Ireland.
The 56kg Bantamweight final would see Ireland’s John Joe Nevin face GB’s Luke Campbell on the Saturday night. Then, on the Sunday night, the 69kg Welterweight final pitted GB’s Fred Evans with Serick Sapilyev of Kazakhstan, and the boxing tournament coming to a conclusion with the Super Heavyweight, 95kg final, and bout number 272, between GB’s Anthony Joshua and defending Olympic Champion, Roberto Cammarelle of Italy.
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