Joe Ward highly critical of referee decisions: 'They're the ones that cost me the fight’

"He jumped in straight away and gave me warnings, and a crucial one in the third round when the score was level."

Joe Ward has criticised referee Wang Meng after his last-16 defeat at the hands of Ecuadorian Carlos Mina at the Olympics Games in Rio, where two docked points cost the reigning European light-heavyweight champion victory, writes Will Downing.

The beaten Ward kept his thoughts succinct and to the point, saying all he had to say in the space of 56 seconds to the assembled Irish media at Riocentro, following his split-decision defeat in the last-16.