Kirk is forced to settle for bronze

Belfast light heavyweight Steven Kirk was stopped in his quest for a silver or gold medal in the second round of his World Championship semi-final bout last night in Budapest. Kirk lost to Russian, Alexandr Lebziak, but joins a group of only three other boxers ever to win a bronze medal at World Championship level.

Tommy Corr, who won bronze in Munich 1982, Michael Carruth (Moscow, '89) and Damaen Kelly (Finland, '93) along with Kirk, are the only four fighters to have achieved medal status in the championships.

Russia, whose fighters, unlike the Irish, are engaged in the sport full time, are second only to the irrepressible Cubans in this year's competition and have, so far, shown exceptional skills. Lebziak demonstrated this in the seven minutes or so of boxing.

The fight was stopped by the referee in the second round when the Cairn Lodge fighter was 3-0 down. It was his third count of the bout against an opponent who was both strong and varied his tactics.

"Steve wasn't in serious trouble," said team manager and doctor to the Irish squad, Sean Donnelly. "But he was up against an opponent who had very fast hands and a great variety of punches."

Kirk himself was deeply disappointed with the outcome, but in his typically gracious way was not about to make excuses, despite the fact that his opponent had received a bye in the first round and was given a walk-over in the second - he had gone into the fight having contested only one other bout.

"I felt OK. I've no excuses. None," said the disapointed Irish champion. "Yes, he had only one fight before this and yes, maybe it did make a difference, but it might not have either. I don't want to make any excuses about it. When you get in the ring the adrenalin takes over. I felt grand going in. The outcome was . . . probably fair enough," he said.

Kirk was taller than his opponent, but faced one of the better fighters of the competition and there was little surprise when the referee stepped in to finish the contest.

"The referee could see that he was in trouble and he wasn't able to respond. We feel happy that he was fairly treated. We don't think it was stopped uneccessarily. Steve wasn't hurt and we didn't want him to be hurt," said Donnelly.

"The Russian was extremely strong and vastly experienced and his tactics in the ring were first class. He drove on, slipped his left and then got underneath Steve.

"It is, though, absolutely crucial to the contest that the Russian had only boxed his second bout of the competition and it has been Steve's fourth with no rest periods. But, at the end of the day, fair is fair, this was a strong opponent."

Kirk is regarded as the best light heavyweight to emerge from Ireland for many years and will be 24 years old next month. He has won three consecutive Irish senior championships and has been Ulster champion at the weight on five occasions.

Ireland do not produce many fighters at the heavier weights who can compete at such a high level. At the championships, controversy surrounds the bad showing of the United States, who will not bring home one medal. Possible reasons are their poor performance under the amateur scoring system because of a lack of willingness to desert the professional style of fighting, and their loss to the professional game of the best amateurs.