No Olympic medal for Jack Marley with quarter-final defeat

It was a positive, brave performance from the first Irish Olympic heavyweight in almost 30 years.

DEFEAT: Jack Marley reacts after his defeat against Davlat Boltaev of Team Tajikistan. Picture: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

Thu, 01 Aug, 2024 - 22:06

Brendan O'Brien, Arena Paris Nord

Jack Marley’s hopes of claiming an Olympic heavyweight medal came undone late on Thursday night with the 21-year old losing to the impressive No.2 seed Davlat Boltaev in the quarter-final.

This was the Dubliner’s second fight of these Olympic Games having seen off Poland’s Mateusz Bereznicki in the last 16, but this was a different calibre of opponent, a two-time and reigning Asian champion and the No.2 seed in the men’s 92kg class.

Marley was aggressive from the off, taking the centre of the ring, but his Tajikistani opponent was an experienced operator and managed to pick off more than enough targeted shots to take the opener 4-1.

Marley landed more of his own in the second round, including an excellent jab followed closely by an uppercut, but he took a cut to his right eye that stopped his momentum and ended up losing the second 4-1 too.

It was a positive, brave performance from the first Irish Olympic heavyweight in almost 30 years but the youngest member of the ten-strong Irish boxing team here met a better fighter on the night who took it 4-1.