O’Neill’s farewell to “biggest competition on earth”

Darren O’Neill became the first Irish boxer to exit the Olympicsyesterday but he did so with his head held high after a 19-12 loss to the young German middleweight Stefan Hartel.

The Paulstown southpaw will look back on the contest with disappointment, if not regret, because he never got anything going. He was flat in the first round, unable to break down the German’s defence while getting caught with a slick backhand, and found himself 6-4 behind.

The second round went along similar lines but, in a bid to nail his man, O’Neill threw caution to the wind and ended up 14-8 behind going into the final round, which he lost 5-4.

“I sparred him before the World Championships and I thought I got the better of him there,” O’Neill said. “I thought I was able to out-box him. I sparred him again before the qualifiers and he probably pipped me there. But I knew what I was doing wrong and I thought today coming I had the capability of beating him.

“I was a little bit slow implementing the tactics in the first round. He got a lead and it was an uphill battle after that. I am utterly disappointed but, fair play to him, he performed very well and deserved to win today.

“He has a very good defence. He holds a very high guard. He is very durable and he’s got a lightning fast backhand. You just don’t see it coming. He waits for you to finish your attack and just pops out that right hand — lightning fast — it’s very hard to escape from it.

“I was finding it hard to slip his backhand in the first round. I was trying my best to get my hands up quickly after a punch but he kinda pushes it a little bit and then attacks to the right hand. Whether or not he lands cleanly with it your head is tilted back and he is popping punches through so they are going to score them in a tight contest.

“Six behind going into the third and your tactics haven’t been working so you have to go for broke and try and stop him. I got a little bit wild at times trying to get off a big shot but unfortunately none of them landed flush or cleanly so he lives to fight another day.

“I’m obviously going to be feeling a bit depressed because I’ve been knocked out of the biggest competition on earth. At the same time I am very proud of myself. I wanted to get to the Olympic Games since I was that height and I did get there. I got a win in. Unfortunately I didn’t get the second but at the end of the day we are a team and I’m going to be standing cheering and supporting these boys as much as I can.

“As regards another Olympics — why not? I’m not ruling it out. It’s not my time yet to step away from the ring. I’m going to torment a few lads for another while.”

“The German is very, very sharp,” high-performance coach Billy Walsh said. “He’s very basic and he is very good at what he does. He’s very strong — physically strong — not a massive big hitter but in the ring he pushed Darren around and our tactics were for Darren to ruffle his feathers — to push him back and take him out of his comfort zone. Unfortunately he did not have that physicality.

“Darren’s very proud of what he’s done. He’s been a role model.

“To get himself to this stage — he’s been behind Kenny Egan for three years, Darren Sutherland for two years — and hang in there to fulfil his dream and to get to the Olympic Games.

“He’s top eight at the World Championships, top eight at the European Championships.

“Unfortunately he is top 16 at the Olympics and does not get to fight for a medal.”

Hartel admitted that the fight was much harder than he expected.

“I never expected it to be like that,” he said. “I know him from training but I never expected it to be so hard or so tough. He is a good boxer. He is a vice-European champion in 2010 so he has more experience than me.

“He has power in his fists so I had to be careful all the time. I am not a puncher. They don’t hurt but they make the points.

“It is the strength of our Berlin team — we always have a good defence. That is at the bottom of the victories.”