Hickey and O’Kane have to be content with bronze
For Ross Hickey from Grangecon in Wicklow it was a dream come through although he admitted he was disappointed be at the wrong end of the 9-3 decision in favour of Vazgen Safaryants (Belarus).
A public warning for Hickey in the third round after he had clawed his way back into the fight when there was only a point between dashed his hopes of victory.
A left hook to Hickey’s head gave the Belarusian an early lead which was wiped out by Hickey when he scored with a big left hand to the head at the end of the round.
When Safaryants went two points up in the second round Hickey fought back and two solid left hooks tied the fight at 3-3 before they went into the end of the round.
With 10 seconds remaining in the third round the Belarusian got a point from an uppercut and then Hickey was immediately given a public warning to put three points between then and, in a tight contest, there was no way back.
“The warning came as a surprise because we were both getting cautioned,” Hickey admitted. “But I just could not get going. I had difficulty getting my shots off and then I could not find my range with the punches.
“They were not scoring body shots today. The shots to the body worked wonders for me the last day but today I just could not land with them and when I did eventually get through I got nothing from them. It was a lot of hard work for nothing.
“I have a European medal coming out of those championships and that is something that has not sunk in yet because you are always focused on the next fight. When I go home I will think about it and then I will enjoy it.
“It has been a great year for me. I have been getting better with every contest and I am looking forward to next year already.’’
O’Kane went into his semi-final with an injured left arm from his very first fight out here and he was conceding height and reach to a new Russian on the block, Maxim Koptyakov.
Yet O’Kane, who won a Commonwealth championships gold medal on his last visit to Liverpool, claimed the first point from a right hand over the top but the Russian won the round 3-1 and won the second 3-0 as O’Kane found it impossible to get through. All the time Koptyakov was stealing points and went on to win the contest 10-2.
“He caught me with big body shot early on and I felt it,” O’Kane said. “I went into the fight with an injured left hand from my first fight and that did not help. I could not hook him with the left and my punches were short of the target.
“I know I have a bronze medal and I am delighted with that but I came in here tonight looking for a place in the final but it did not work out that way.”
Elsewhere Vasyl Lomachenko (Ukraine), who was so brilliant against Ireland’s David Oliver Joyce, was made to look like a novice when he came up against the taller French featherweight, Hicham Ziouti, in his semi-final bout.
After a pointless first round Ziouti went a point up in the second and it was not until the third round that Lomachenko got his first point.
With 45 seconds remaining in the contest Lomachenko took the lead for the first time with a big right hand to the body. After that he elected to run away from his man and, at one point, the referee stopped the contest and told him to stand and fight. He now meets the Araik Ambartsumov in tomorrow’s final after the Russian outpointed Bashir Hassan (Sweden) in the other semi-final.
Ireland’s Conor Ahern had to watch from the gallery as the lanky Salomo N’Tuve beat Alezandr Riscan (Moldova) 5-0 to get through to the flyweight final.
Ahern was 10 points up against the Swede at one point but both boxers got two public warnings and when they tied up again in the fourth round the Dubliner was the one who got disqualified.
* All tonight’s finals will be televised live on TG4 with commentary by Seán Ban Breathnach.
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