Medal now in sights as Nevin turns on the style

John Joe Nevin became the first Irish boxer to qualify for a medal fight at London 2012 with a masterful display at the ExCel yesterday when he outpointed Kanat Abutalipov (Kazakhstan) 15-10 for a place in Sunday night’s quarter-finals.

Nevin drew down all the experience of the Beijing Olympics, the two world championships where he won back-to-back bronze medals, and the World Series of Boxing where he enjoyed an impressive run.

When they touched gloves some years ago, Nevin came away with a 13-3 victory but since then Abutalipov, too, had paraded his talents in the WSB, winning the tournament outright.