Delight for Nevin but despair for Sutherland

JOHN JOE NEVIN stole the show while Darren Sutherland won the hearts but lost the fight on a day of highly charged and mixed emotions for the Irish contingent at the Olympic qualifying tournament in Pescara, Italy yesterday.

Wins for Nevin, Kenneth Egan and John Joe Joyce means that Ireland will have three representatives in Friday’s semi-finals. A place in the final will guarantee a ticket to Beijing on the same flight as Paddy Barnes next August but Nevin will have a second bite of the cherry as there are three places up for grabs here in the bantamweight division with the final spot to be decided in a box-off on Saturday between the bronze medallists.

Nevin turned in another lifetime best performance to outpoint Detelin Dalakliev from Bulgaria.

Nevin weathered an early onslaught and when it appeared as if his opponent was attempting to overwhelm him with his multi-punch combinations the Irishman came forward strongly, cut him off and scored with some brilliant shots.

There was still just a point between them going into the fourth round but by now the demolition threat posed by the Bulgarian had dissipated and it was the sheer brilliance of Nevin that grabbed the attention of the judges as he got through with the clean shots that earned him a well deserved 16-15 victory and a place in the semi-finals.

‘‘I think we saw John Joe at his brilliant best today,’’ IABA High Performance Director Gary Keegan insisted. ‘‘But we were not surprised by what we saw. John Joe has the class and he has proved it in the past but what is really impressive about him is his ability to train and, at the end of the day, that is what really separates the really great boxers from the good ones.’’

John Joe Joyce was another youngster to impress. He has continued to build on the experience of the world championships in Chicago and took it to a new level yesterday with two spectacular rounds against the experienced Hungarian Milan Piperski.

At the end of the second round Joyce led 13-4. There was drama in the Hungarian’s corner at this point. An ice pack was produced and then Piperski refused to come out for the third handing victory to Joyce.

The Irish team captain, Kenneth Egan, had Olympic qualification etched all over his performance as he dominated Emil Krastev from Bulgaria in their light heavyweight quarter final. The Neilstown southpaw stormed into an early lead and proceeded to win all four rounds en route to a 29-8 victory which earns him a place against Ramazan Magamedau (Belarus) in Saturday’s semi-finals. But what should have been a truly spectacular day for Irish boxing ended with a shock defeat for middleweight Darren Sutherland that left the Irish officials with a bitter taste in their mouths.

Sutherland was meeting James Degale from England for the fourth time in this quarter-final and had beaten the Englishman in the previous three meetings — the most recent a 23-19 victory in the finals of the EU championships in Dublin last June.

This time, however, Degale went eight points up on Sutherland before Sutherland turned in a storming third round which he won 12-6. He forced a standing count from a big right hand at the end of the round and, with the crowd on its feet and roaring him on, he almost stopped Degale before the bell came to his rescue.

Sutherland was now within striking distance but his rhythm was upset and his opponent got a 30 second respite when the referee called the doctor to the corner to look at what appeared to be a slight cut.

Still Sutherland came storming forward, drew level and went one point up but Degale hauled it back and they were tied at 22 points each when the bell sounded in the other ring and the corner men were climbing into the ring when they realised their mistake. The boxers tied each other up and, from somewhere, Degale got the vital point that won the contest.