Sutherland awaits tale of the tape after shock defeat

IRISH boxing officials were yesterday mulling over the shock defeat of Darren Sutherland at the World Championships in Chicago, where their favourite for Olympic qualification went out to Alfonso Blanco (Venezuela) at the wrong end of a shock 20-13 decision.

While high performance director, Garry Keegan admitted that the Dublin middleweight boxed below his potential, his backroom team were looking for a recording of the fight to see exactly where the scores against him came from.

Blanco got off to a three-point start in the opening seconds and that pattern continued as the judges scored hits from punches that appeared to have landed on Sutherland’s arms.