Thundering win for Paddy Barnes

Belfast light-fly Paddy Barnes stepped into another man’s shoes to help Italia Thunder beat the Puerto Rico Hurricanes in the World Series of Boxing (WSB) in Palermo on Saturday night.

Barnes’ luggage was missing when he arrived in Italy for the Group B match and he had to borrow gear for his fight with Anthony Ortiz. The two-time Olympic medallist dropped the first round 10-9, but edged the second on a split before claiming the final three frames to score a 48-47, 49-46,49-46 decision in the light-fly class.

“Had to fight wearing some fellas boxing boots size 7½ and I’m only size 5,” tweeted the ex-European Elite champion.

Barnes now improves to two wins from two for Thunder in the WSB. The top-ranked light-fly at the end of the season will qualify for Rio 2016.

Michael Conlan also won for Thunder to bounce back from a narrow defeat in his first WSB match of the season in Azerbaijan. The London 2012 bronze medallist stopped Garibaldy Gomez in the third round to help Thunder to a 5-0 shut out victory.