Boxing:Bantamweight John Joe Nevin secured a bronze medal at the AIBA World Championships in Milan this afternoon, but Willie McLaughlin and Ken Egan were outclassed in their respective quarter-finals.
Nevin’s cagey contest against China’s Yu Gu took some time to get going as neither boxer looked keen on throwing a punch. The referee urged both fighters to box and Yu was the first to register a point to take a sklender lead into the second round.
The Chinese fighter was warned again in the second, however, and two penalty points were awarded to Nevin. That brought the Cavan man out of his shell and he tagged his opponent early and frequently to take a 5-2 lead into the third and final round.
His readiness to slip back into defensive mode almost cost him has Yu fought back to within a point, but a solid left by Nevin in the dying seconds ensured a two-point cushion at 7-5.
Nevin will face Russian Eduard Abzalimov in the semi-final on Friday afternoon but he will not be joined in the last four by light-heavyweight Egan or welterweight McLaughlin.
The latter was always up against it with classy Russian southpaw Andrey Zamkovoy.
The Donegal boxer was game throughout but was readily picked off by his rangy opponent’s fluid combinations.
He trailed 4-1 after the first and was forced then to chase Zamkovoy, who proved adept at staying out of trouble and scoring on the back foot.
The Russian took an 11-3 lead into the third and his class was evident as he turned that into a 16-7 win.
Egan was last of the Irish to take to the ring and began brightly against France’s inexperienced Abdelkader Bouhenia but was pegged back to 3-3 at the end of the first.
His opponent had a reach and height advantage and put them to good use early in the second, picking off a ragged looking Egan with precision punches to take a 10-4 lead into the last.
Egan came out fighting in the last but again there was too much for the Neilstown boxer to do and his opponent won comfortably by 17 points to nine.