By Rob Wright and Eoin Ryan
Brendan Irvine and David Oliver Joyce must come through box-offs at the European Olympic Qualifiers if they are to book their places at Rio 2016, after both Irishmen suffered semi-final defeats in Samsun, Turkey today.
Belfast fighter Irvine suffered a semi-final defeat to Narek Abgaryan of Armenia.
Favourite Irvine was well beaten by the more experienced Abgaryan, who, despite being forced to take a standing count in the final round, rarely looked troubled by the 19-year-old Irishman.
Abgaryan set the tone in the opening minute of the first round as he looked calm and cool, picking his shots on the counter and constantly frustrating Irvine with his quick footwork, often leaving the Irishman punching air.
Irvine landed a neat right flush to the face of his opponent midway through the round as the pair settled into an intriguing contest and he also connected with a powerful left to the body, before swatting away Abgaryan’s counter-flurry to raise Irish hopes.
Both fighters continued to feel each other out with plenty of posturing and not too many punches thrown, but when he did swing, Abgaryan connected more often than not, leading to all three judges giving him the round.
Trailing going into the second round Irvine was aware he needed to do more work but it was Abgaryan who forced the issue, stepping up the tempo and unloading on Irvine.
The Armenian was the busier fighter at this stage, throwing far more punches while Irvine was attempting to hit back on the counter but struggling to connect.
Abgaryan caught Irvine with a crunching right as he took control, giving Irvine nothing for free - every time the Belfast fighter managed to land a punch, he was tagged back in return.
Abgaryan's hand speed and movement started to make Irvine look ragged. The teenager missed with a wild uppercut while Abgaryan rocked him back with a solid right before catching him with a stamina-sapping left hook to the body.
All three judges give the round to Abgaryan and there could be no complaints.
The final round began with Irvine needing to do something very special but he continued to struggle to find his range. The Irish fighter was falling short with his jab as his opponent jumped out of range before bouncing back to catch him on the inside.
With vocal encouragement coming from his corner, Irvine pressed the issue but with two rounds already in his pocket, Abgaryan could afford to be more circumspect and pick his punches on the counter, connecting more often than not.
Irvine finished brightly, saving his best work for the final 30 seconds and he forced Abgaryan to take a standing count as the Armenian seemed to stop protecting himself, appealing to the referee.
That count was too little, too late for Irvine, but he will have another chance as this tournament, taking on Bulgarian Daniel Asenov for a Rio place in Saturday's box-off.
Asenov lost the other 52kg semi-final 28-29, 27-30, 27-30 to England's Muhammad Ali.
Joyce was the victim of some questionable judging as he suffered a unanimous-decision defeat to Joseph Cordina in their 60kg lightweight semi-final.
The 29-year-old was unfortunate to lose the first round on all three cards after taking the fight to his British opponent and then was only given the second by one of the three judges, despite appear to dominate.
That left him needing a knockdown in the final round and though the St Michael’s Athy man finally won over two of the judges, 'Ford' Cordina won 29-28 on all three cards for a 3-0 victory.
Joyce can still qualify for Rio with a win in Saturday's box-off but he will be up against home fighter Volkan Gockek.
The Turk was beaten 30-27, 29-28, 30-27 by France's Soufiane Oumiha.
The St Michael’s Athy clubman had started in typically aggressive style, pressuring Cordina from the opening bell.
The Welshman landed a couple of shots on the counter but Joyce caught him with two solid straight lefts and it was surprising to see all three judges give the round to Cordina.
Joyce kept the pace up in the second round. He slipped twice early on before a cracking left to the body hurt Cordina, who resorted to holding the Irishman.
Joyce immediately followed that up with a right hook that rocked Cordina back onto the ropes and finished the round clearly in the ascendancy but two of the judges again bizarrely gave the round to Cordina, who had hardly seemed to land a punch.
That meant Joyce needed a knockdown to win and, although he continued to attack in the final round, Cordina was repeatedly allowed to hold with impunity and picked off the Irishman with some clean counter punches.
If anything, that had seemed to be Cordina's most impressive round, but the judges again again saw it differently, two of them awarding it to Joyce.
Watch Brendan Irvine and David Oliver Joyce's fights below (Island of Ireland only)
