– Niall Kelly reports from Riocentro, Rio de Janeiro
IRISH BOXING’S MISERABLE week at the Rio Olympics continued on Wednesday night as Joe Ward crashed out of the light-heavyweight division in a controversial split decision loss.
Ward outscored his opponent, Ecuador’s Carlos Mina, on all three of the judges’ scorecards — but his Olympic dream was undone by two costly point deductions imposed by Chinese referee Meng Wang.
The penalties saw Mina progress to the quarter-finals (27-28, 28-27, 28-27) where he will face the highly-rated Frenchman Mathieu Bauderlique for a medal.
Defeat for the 22-year-old, who was seeded fourth in the division and widely expected to contend for a medal, leaves Ireland with just four of their eight fighters still standing in Rio.
David Oliver Joyce and team captain Paddy Barnes are also out, while Michael O’Reilly was sent home from the Games on Tuesday night in disgrace following his failed drugs test.
It leaves the nation’s medal hopes in the ring resting on defending Olympic champion Katie Taylor and London bronze medallist Michael Conlan, with Brendan Irvine and Steven Donnelly also in contention.
“It’s very disappointing the way the fight went,” Ward said after a scrappy fight against the awkward Mina .
I felt like I was doing enough in there to win the fight, landing cleaner punches, and I felt like the referee got involved twice in crucial stages.
“It was very unlucky for me to get two public warnings, especially when the fight was nip and tuck.
“I felt I was doing enough but I’m very disappointed with the way the referee got involved in the fight.
The two points effectively cost me the fight. I was winning it and he got involved for no reason.
“He (Mina) was doing most of the holding – he was pulling and dragging and very messy. But it’s done now and we’ve to move on with it.”
After the first deduction in the second round, Ward bounced back and won the final round on all three cards.
But a second deduction, imposed midway through that final round, cost him dearly on his Olympic debut.
“(The referee) didn’t caution me that much,” Ward added.
“He jumped in and just gave me a warning, and it was a very crucial one in the third round when the fight was level.”
