Olympic boxing: Captain Darren O'Neill became the first of the Irish team to fall out of the Olympic draw when he was beaten 19-12 by Germany's Stefan Haertel this afternoon.
O’Neill always knew he was up against a tough opponent as the two had sparred together before arriving in London, but the Irish middleweight came under pressure from the first round as the German soldier landed his straight lefts and fast got into the points.
At the end of the round O’Neill shipped a few scores and although he was landing himself was 6-4 down going into the second.
It was the second three minutes where a lot of the damage was done and although O’Neill had Haertel on the ropes with a big left and right combination, it was the German who emerged the clear leader at 14-8. Whatever O’Neill landed Haertel always came back with more.
Chasing the fight and tiring, O’Neill was again scoring in the final three minutes but so was the German. There was a note of desperation in the Irishman as he bravely came forward knowing that he had to win the round convincingly. But the gap was too large to bridge with the judges awarding the fight to Haertel after 5-4 win in the last.
“I’m very disappointed,” said O’Neill. “He got into his stride quicker than I did in the first round and that was important to the outcome of the fight. I knew in the third round I had to give it all and I went at it with the kitchen sink. But his defence was very good.”
The next two Irish boxers are in the ring tomorrow night, when light flyweight Michael Conlan and welterweight Adam Nolan fight in the last 16 of their respective divisions.
Britain's middleweight hope Anthony Ogogo pulled off the most dramatic victory of his career against Ukrainian world champion Ievgen Khytrov to move within nine minutes of a medal.
Not even a countback could separate the fighters after the bout ended 18 apiece and then 52-52 after the scores of all five judges were totalled.
It was then down to the judges to each pick an individual winner, and Ogogo could barely control his emotions when his name was announced to roars of approval from the home crowd.
Even then the drama was not quite over, as Ukraine launched an appeal against the verdict, which was swiftly dismissed by AIBA's competition jury, who said they had "no special grounds" for the complaint.
Ogogo, who will Haertel, with a bronze medal guaranteed for the winner, cited his mother's battle against a brain haemorrhage as his inspiration to pull off a result few believed he was capable of.
Ogogo said: "My mum made me the winner. After everything that has happened to me I could have crumbled in those last few seconds but that gave me the extra strength to get over the finish line. Nobody thought I would win that fight - I don't think even the rest of my team-mates thought I could win it - but I just believed in myself.
"I thought it was probably a countback and I've been on the wrong end of them so many times. With what's gone on with me in the build-up, I needed that. It's so much sweeter, and it's what got me over the finish line."
Additional reporting from PA
