Boxing:Bantamweight John Joe Nevin came from behind to win his AIBA World Championships fight in Baku and secure the first and only medal of the competition for Ireland.
For the second day in succession the 22-year-old has come from behind in the third round to put in a rousing three minutes and overhaul his opponent.
"It’s fantastic," said coach Billy Walsh afterwards, "but it’s been a rollercoaster of a week. We had so many chances but we only came away with one. It could have been worse, we could have came away with none. John Joe Nevin was behind in the first round, behind in the second round and again to go in and pull it back in the third round, it was a fantastic performance by him."
Nevin secured an Olympic place in London 2012 on Tuesday and today ensured he would win nothing less than a bronze medal after coming from 11-9 behind in the second round to beat Uzbek opponent Orzubek Shayimov 19-17.
Nevin, a bronze medallist in the World Amateur Championships in Milan in 2009, becomes the first Irish fighter to have won medals in two World Championship events. England's Luke Campbell will stand between him and at least a silver on Friday.
Ireland’s second fighter into the ring today, Darren O’Neill, wasn’t so fortunate. Facing one of the favourites in the middleweight division in Japan’s Ryota Murata, O’Neill was also required to come in with a big third round, but unlike Nevin before him, fell short in the final stretch losing 18-9.
Murata led the bout from the beginning, building up a narrow 3-2 lead in the first round before stretching that margin to 10-7 by the end of the second.
Relentlessly coming forward Murata bossed the Irishman, who was forced on to one knee before taking a standing count in the third round. The Paulstown BC fighter bows out of the competition without a World Championship medal but with his placed secured for next year’s Olympic Games in London.
"O’Neill was on against a very, very strong Japanese boxer, who had beaten the world champion on his way, so he gave a good account of himself," said Walsh. "He’d been to the threshold three days in a row, they were three tough contests and it was a little too much for him."
In the afternoon session Belfast 19-year-old Michael Conlan came within a point of upsetting Welsh European champion Andrew Selby in his flyweight medal bout. Had the teenager started better in the first round, he could so easily have snatched the contest which ended in favour of Selby 25-24.
In a cruel twist Conlan, who was competing in his first World Championships, lost the first round 7-4 but rallied in the latter part of the fight and won the tight final two rounds 10-9 for an overall loss of one point.
“Michael Conlon was a revelation tonight," added Walsh. "I thought he was very very unlucky not to beat the European champion. He won two rounds, and lost one round and ended up losing the fight, which I thought was a very poor reflection on what happened in the ring."
Conlon was disappointed to lose in such fashion, and a little miffed as to the deficit after round one, but took consolation in his place at next year's Olympic Games and the belief that had the beating of his opponent.
“It was a good performance, good fitness by myself," said the Belfast man. "He ran the last round, I couldn’t catch up with him, he was fast on his feet. I’m going to London, so, I’m happy.
“Three points down? I didn’t think I was three points down at all, thought I could have been one up or two up. But that’s the way it goes. That’s life, that’s boxing.
“I had a very hard week. I’ve had three hard fights, he hasn’t had hard fights, he was seeded. I fought number two seeds. A two-time European bronze medallist, I beat. And a Kazakhstani. Kazakshstan is one of the best countries in the world for boxing. And they were all wars. He’s just ran all his fights. I’ve had wars, so I understand, I know, I’m better than him."
