BOXING OLYMPIC QUALIFIERS:A MIX of distress, disappointment as well as a sense of outrage filled the boxing arena in Trabzon yesterday evening. Distress and disappointment in that one of the top Irish talents, 18-year-old Joe Ward, made an early exit from the Olympic Qualification event and will not now take part in the Olympic Games in London.

Disappointment in that Ward is one of the best amateur boxers in the world in the light heavyweight division and outrage because many of the people who watched his fight against Turkey’s Bahram Muzaffer felt Ward won.

Boxing has been down this road before and when referees make decision boxers fall out of world events. Yesterday was one of those moments when Ward, the European senior champion had seemed to have easily done enough to win but fell well short on the referee’s cards. “I thought I won the fight and I’m disappointed,” was all the disconsolate teenager could say afterwards.

His coach, Billy Walsh, was less circumspect. Although cautious about what he said and who he said it about Walsh was of the strong opinion Ward won the first two rounds and could not comprehend how he convincingly lost the third round and conceded six points to lose the fight 18-15.

“In the last round I thought Joe did all the cleanest scoring. It’s pretty seldom you get six points against . . . It’s so unfortunate,” said Walsh. “He’s had two chances to qualify (here and last year’s World Championships) and he hasn’t done it. He’s probably one of the best boxers in the world in the weight division. He’s ahead of his time with regard to Olympic qualification. He’s 18 years of age. He really should be looking at it the next time around.

“He’s a colossal talent. He’s up there with some of the best in the world. A month ago he beat the World and European champion in the Chemistry Cup (multi-nations event), beat the world number two. He’ll be up there with them all and they will be all very happy he’s not qualified or going to London because he’s getting better every day. I’m very disappointed with the scoring . . . You can put in a protest. It costs €500. We’re discussing that.”

Actually they did make the complaint after a brief discussion with IABA president Tommy Murphy and as sports psychologist Gerry Hussey and video analyst Alan Swanton reviewed the tape to put flesh on the Irish complaints, Ward departed from the stadium.

But the decision could not be overturned. Des Donnelly, the Irish team manager, lodged the complaint within half an hour of the bout ending. It was considered by International Boxing Association officials and no rule was seen by them to have been broken. There was therefore no means by which the decision against Ward could be over turned.

It will be reviewed again this morning at the judges’ meeting and if any mistakes were seen to have been made there will be repercussions for the judges but the decision favouring Muzaffer will not change. The five referees who scored the contest were from the Philippines, China, Italy, Croatia and Algeria, and the referee was from Kazakhstan.

Still, it was a perplexing outcome as Ward was significantly the more aggressive boxer and visibly landed the cleaner punches. In the opening round Ward knocked Muzaffer sideways and after a straight left knocked him back, almost onto the ropes. Ward went 5-4 down. Round two came and went with a similar feeling that the staggering straight left the teenager landed was just about equal to an unseen point scoring touch in a clinch as the local boxer quite legally went into spoiling mode.

While Ward tired in the final round and many of his swirling shots missed the target, it seemed unfathomable he conceded six points over the three minutes.

While his standing as the third-ranked boxer in the world and his status as European champion counts for little between the ropes, it did feel oddly distressing that with all of his ability he wasn’t making much ground on an opponent who didn’t seem to be doing an awful lot.

Amateur boxing has thrown up unusual results many times and efforts have been made to make the scoring fair to both the referees and the fighters. The system of averaging the three most similar of five scores after every round and discarding the two widest does have merit. But from there it falls to the eye of the judges.

The result left his team-mates in shock. As heavyweight Tommy McCarthy put it: “Up until this the mood has been great. Ross (Hickey) lost this morning, which was a shock, and Joe losing is the biggest shock of the year in Irish boxing. All the boys in the camp were thinking Joe’s going to win the Olympic Games, thought this was going to be easy, and now he’s not even going. I can’t believe it.”