Moore battles on, but no joy for Murray

IRELAND’S Andy Murray lost his bout at the World Boxing Championships in Thailand yesterday.

Murray was defeated 28-9 by his Turkish opponent in his lightweight fight. However, Wicklow's James Moore, kept Irish hopes alive with victory earlier in the day.

The Arklow native, who was a bronze medallist two years ago at the World Championships in Belfast, won his welterweight bout on the 20-point rule.

Meanwhile, faced with criticism for fielding an under-strength team, the United States has blamed poor judging for a string of defeats in the early rounds of the World Amateur Boxing Championships in Bangkok this week.

Four US boxers were eliminated on Sunday, the opening day of the tournament.

And three more super heavyweight George Garcia, flyweight Ronald Siler, and featherweight Jose Perez crashed out of the competition on Monday.

"The reason they went out was they weren't given a fair shot," US head coach Frank Gentile told Reuters.

"We can't beat the judges. We had a continuous battle with them and we thought we'd won a lot of the fights.

"There were a lot of disputed decisions and our boxers did the best they could, but you can't account for poor judging."

Formerly world leaders in amateur boxing, the United States failed to win an Olympic gold medal for the first time in 52 years in Sydney 2000 and took no titles at the last World Championships in Belfast two years ago.

Just three of the 10-strong US team are left in this year's event, with welterweight Andre Berto tipped for a medal after his defeat of Lithuanian Rolandas Jasevicius on Tuesday.

"I think this was our break," Gentile said.

"We can go on and win three medals with the three guys we have left. This team is just as good as the one we had at the last world championships in Belfast and I really think we can take home some medals."

Gentile said the US team that travelled to Thailand was a combination of first and second team fighters.

The stronger boxers were left behind to prepare for next month's Pan-American Games in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic.

"This isn't the full squad here but it's an excellent team and they've prepared very well.

"We've been working hard and they were ready for this, but it's not over yet," Gentile said.