Andy Lee, Ireland’s only boxer to qualify for the Athens Olympics in 2004, believes John Joe Nevin’s victory over Cuba’s world bantamweight champion, Lazaro Alvarez, was one of the best contests of the whole tournament.

John Joe Nevin set up the fight of the Olympic boxing finals when he out-fought world champion Lazaro Alvarez in a thrilling semi-final bout at the ExCeL yesterday.

Assured of a bronze medal, John Joe Nevin will try to cash it in for silver, at least, this afternoon (2pm) when he meets the world’s number one bantamweight, Lazaro Alvarez, in the Olympic semi-finals at the ExCel.

An emotional John Joe Nevin claimed Ireland’s first Olympic medal from London 2012 last night and immediately dedicated it to his cousin, David, who died from a heart attack last February aged just 25.

JOHN JOE NEVIN bowed out of the World Boxing Championships in Baku yesterday after losing his bantamweight semi-final against Luke Campbell on a countback after the judges’ scoring tied the pair at 12 points apiece at end of three thrilling rounds.