Joe Ward increased Ireland’s quarter-final tally to four at the World Championships in Doha, but Seán McComb’s campaign has ended after a close defeat in Doha.
Moate light-heavyweight Ward recorded a 3-0 unanimous-decision victory over Ukraine’s Oleksandr Kyyzhniak at the Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiya Arena, while Belfast lightweight McComb was edged out by No 3 seed Albert Selimov of Azerbaijan in a chess match of a fight.
Ward is two wins away from Olympic qualification as he needed to reach the world final to book his spot for Rio, joining Michael Conlan, Michael O’Reilly and Brendan Irvine in last-eight action on Saturday.
The 21-year-old Westmeath man boxed with a noticeable level of spite in his punches having waited four days to step into the ring, knocking Kyyzhniak’s gumshield out of the Ukrainian’s mouth in the second round.
Ward took his foot off the gas in the last round, but recorded a 29-28 points win on all three cards.
“It was fairly tough, overall it was a good performance,” said Ward afterwards. “The first two rounds I was very in control, the last round I knew I was winning the fight and I took my foot off the gas a wee bit, but overall I’m delighted with the win.”
Ward will fight Mikhail Dauhaliavets of Belarus in an all-southpaw clash tomorrow in what is a rematch of their European Championship quarter-final when the Irish man won en route to a gold medal.
While Ward needs to reach the final to book his Olympic place, matters are more complicated for the other Irish fighters still involved in the competition.
Conlan is already qualified for Rio through the World Series of Boxing, but the other Irish fighters at the Worlds must either finish in the top two or top three (via a third-place box-off) to book an Olympic spot.
McComb will not feature, however, after losing yet another tight call to Selimov having come out the wrong end of a split decision against the 2007 world champion in the European Games last summer.
The 23-year-old Belfast native boxed well in what was a tentative affair throughout, with both fighters starting in ultra-cautious fashion.
While McComb won all three rounds, 30-27, on an Argentinian judge’s card, an Italian and a Polish official scored the fight to Selimov, 29-28 – although all three awarded the last round to the Irishman.
McComb appeared to land far more punches, but big right hands from Selimov midway through the first and second rounds may have caught the eyes of the judges.
“I thought I won the first round, and it changes the whole game-plan [when you don’t], going from plan A to plan B,” said McComb following the fight, going on to compare it to his last clash with Selimov in Baku last June.
“I watched that analysis and that changed the game-plan too. It’s just the same thing repeating itself, but I won’t dwell on it, I’ll learn from it. I’ve come on a lot from the last time I boxed him to this time and this was closer again. The next time I’ll be sure to beat him.”
Irvine is expected to be the first Irish fighter in action on Saturday, taking on Cuban Joahnys Argilagos, who the Belfast light-flyweight defeated last year.
Bantamweight Conlan meets European Games Bronze medallist Tayfur Aliyev of Azerbaijan, while Michael O’Reilly takes on Kazakhstan’s world middleweight champion Zhanubek Alimhanuly, who defeated Jason Quigley in the 2013 final.
