‘We will call him Bronzer’
It was an emotional moment for the Mullingar man, who turned in the performance of his life to beat the Mexican bantamweight, Oscar Valdez, 19-13 after three action-packed rounds. He now has the opportunity to turn his bronze medal to silver, at least, when he meets the world champion, Lazaro Alvarez, on Friday (2pm).
It was a stunning performance in every respect. He out-punched the Mexican in the first round but the judges scored the round 5-5.
Nevin allowed Valdez come forward again in the second, slipped his punches and scored with the right cross that became his trademark for the night, winning the round 7-4.
The third round followed similar lines with the Mexican coming forward, trying to pin him on the ropes, and throwing the big punches. He landed one vicious left hook to the ribs and Nevin wisely took the count on one knee. He again won the round 7-4 for a 19-13 victory.
Nevin, who has two world championships bronze medals in his collection, won Irish boxing’s 13th Olympic medal and Ireland’s 24th Olympic medal in all and he praised the coaching team of Billy Walsh and Zaur Antia for their role in his achievement.
“It’s amazing,” he said. “I had to box a lot better than the last night. I won’t say I performed to my best, I had to perform a lot better than I did in my last fight and maybe I’ll have to get better as it goes along.
“We knew the tactics and I have to thank Billy and Zaur, those tactics — they’re phenomenal coaches, I think they’re the best in the world.
“To read tactics and to know what way to box a lad — I just go along with them because I know they’re not going to tell me the wrong thing.
“We were level after the first round and Billy just said it’s like another round, it’s level again so let’s get going again.
“And I knew I just had to go out and do it, maybe not early on in the second round but that right hook was getting him every time. He’s a tough opponent, I honestly believe he’s going to make world champion someday.
“But saying that, he was tired himself because when you’re putting everything behind a shot and missing it, it takes a lot out of you.”
He said the punch that caught him in the third round hurt him and he did what Walsh told him.
“I just took it,” he said. “I glanced over at Billy and he gestured to stay down.
“I think there was a minute left and I thought, ‘listen, it’s going to be a long minute’”
“It was a brilliant shot, a class shot. I could do nothing about it, I had to go down — it was either that or get knocked out because I wasn’t feeling my best, I wasn’t able to keep my hands.
“He hit me a few head shots too, he’s a very hard hitter and he’s only 21. I can’t believe the strength of him for a 56k and it was the hardest I’ve ever been hit, and I’ve been hit by an Olympic champion and put on me arse when I was 19.
“I didn’t want to please the crowd, I was only thinking about beating your man and it worked for me. Thankfully it worked.”
Asked about raising his hands to heaven when the verdict was announced he explained it was to his cousin.
“David was meant to be here — my cousin David,” he said. “I said it to lads at his funeral — he said to me, ‘you’ll go all the way, John Joe’.
“He was booking his tickets and all when the boys were booking theirs and he passed away, He was only 25 years of age.
“He would have fought under Billy and them as well. He just took a heart attack out of the blue, he was only 25. I take my hat off to him, it was the likes of him who inspired me and I’m very, very sad to talk about him now.
“An Olympic medal — I’d trade everything in for it, you know.”
Walsh admitted concern about two things — the shot Nevin took in the third round and the fact that he was so relaxed in the lead-up to the fight.
“I actually thought it was a low blow because I didn’t see it from where it was — the Mexican’s back was to me,” he said. “It turned out, he said, it was a cracking shot. He did well to get up after that because he was extremely tired at that stage, hanging on.
“He was so very relaxed and we were concerned that he might be a bit too relaxed. He said to me yesterday ‘I know I can beat this guy easy’ and I was thinking maybe he was too complacent because he is always at his best when he is under threat, when he knows he’s up against it.”
He now meets the reigning world champion, Lazaro Alvarez (Cuba), who came back from a first round deficit to outpoint Robenilson Vieira de Jesus (Brazil) in the first bantamweight fight of the night.
“We’ll worry about the Cuban the day after tomorrow,” Billy said. “We’ll enjoy the day, he’s a world medallist, an Olympic medallist; we’re going to nickname him “Bronzer.” We’re going to sit down tomorrow and try and change the colour of the medal.”
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