Ceire Smith has bowed out of the Women's World Boxing Championships after losing to Poland's Karolina Michalczuk at the last-16 stage.
The referee stopped the contest in the third round, with Michalczuk leading 23-7, to bring a disappointing end to the 19-year-old Cavan woman’s tournament and Olympic hopes.
Smith launched straight into her opponent from the start, but she failed to land many punches as the Pole waited for her chance to pounce.
Michaelczuk is a former World bronze medallist and European champion and she showed all that class in the ring today.
Her powerful punches landed time and again and Smith received two standing counts in the opening round. Michalczuk lead 12-1 at the end of the first.
It was more of the same in the second. Smith bravely battled on, but kept taking heavy shots and was 23-7 down after the second.
There was no way back from there for Smith and the referee stopped the contest midway through the third.
Smith thanked everyone at home for their support afterwards.
Reaching the last-16 is a huge improvement for the Cavan boxer, who went out of the last World Championships in the first round.
