Advertisement
stinging defeat

British flyweight Muhammad Ali fails to live up to name as he exits Olympics in round of 16

Venezuela’s Yoel Finol advances to the quarter-finals after his win.

THERE WILL NOT be a second Olympic champion called Muhammad Ali his time around after Britain’s flyweight with the most famous name in boxing was defeated in his Rio debut today.

The young Ali — reportedly bestowed the name by his boxing-mad father — was left distraught and in tears after his Olympic dream came to a premature end after just nine minutes of action.

Venezuela’s Yoel Finol, 19, was awarded the bout on a unanimous points decision to leave Ali, who is a year older, with his head in his hands and looking stunned.

“I’ve been here too long and I was itching to get in there,” said Ali, who was making his first appearance nine days after the Rio boxing began.

“I let the emotions get the better of me, I just tried too hard and nothing was flowing and now I am just here…” said Ali, his voice trembling and tears welling in his eyes.

“I just feel like it’s the end of the world.”

The heavyweight legend Ali, who died in June aged 74, announced his presence to the world — he was then called Cassius Clay — with gold at the Rome Olympics in 1960.

© AFP, 2016

The42 is on Snapchat! Tap the button below on your phone to add!

Bitter disappointment for Ireland as Katie Taylor crashes out of Rio Olympics

Thai schoolkids have a song about Ireland’s Olympic heroes the O’Donovan brothers

Your Voice
Readers Comments
3
    Submit a report
    Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
    Thank you for the feedback
    Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.