Joe Ward took less than a round of boxing to secure a bronze medal and earn a place in the World Championships semifinals in Almaty alongside Donegal middleweight Jason Quigley.
The Moate teenager stopped Russia’s Nikita Ivanov after just a couple of minutes boxing and will fight defending champion and second seed Julio Peraza of Cuba for a place in the final on Friday.
Ward was fully in control of the fight and just over two minutes in landed a punch forcing the Russian to fall towards him.
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Ward wasn’t sure if he clashed heads or the punch cut Ivanov but the referee was quick to stop the bout and examine the wound. There was little hesitation in calling a stop to proceedings, Ward going though with 33 seconds remaining of the first round.
It’s the first time the light-heavyweight has reached a World Championship semifinal and comes after he has had to endure a year of injury.
Ward was the European Champion two years ago and has pedigree at the top level of the sport with today’s win marking a return to the form that singled him out as a unique and precocious young talent.
“It’s unbelievable. A European gold and World bronze at 19-years-old what more can you ask for,” said Ward. “Having such bad luck in the Olympics and not qualifying… and in Trabzon (Olympic qualifier where Ward lost a contentious decision) that guy went on to win the gold medal, so it’s time for a bit of pay back.”
Quigley is also guaranteed a medal after he won a unanimous decision over Hungary's Zoltan Harcsa.
Ireland's two other boxers in action in the morning quarter-finals, Michael Conlan and Tommy McCarthy, were beaten in their attempts to make the medal matches, while Paddy Barnes also went out early in the afternoon session.
Donegal fighter Quigley came in barely an hour after Conlan failed to advance. But where Conlan struggled to find top form, Quigley shaped his bout from the bell.
Aggressive and constantly pushing Harcsa backward, Quigley was scoring well throughout.
In the second round the 22-year-old put the Hungarian on the canvas and he took a standing count from the referee. There was never any doubt in a complete and dominating performance from the Irishman who remains unbeaten as an amateur middleweight 31-0 .
“Yeah, 31-0 since a year and a half ago,” said Quigley. “It’s a massive achievement for me. It’s always in the back of my head now and something I want to keep going. It’s a record and people want to break records.
“I didn’t want to complicate things. He went down in the second round with a right hand but I didn’t rush in to finish him off. You have to be clever. You have to be smart in there. I’m ready for anything.”
He meets a Russian opponent Artem Chebotarev in the semi-final on Friday.
Conlan lost on a unanimous decision in his quarter-final, the Belfast bantamweight losing all three rounds to an aggressive and hard punching Russian, Vladimir Nikitin.
From the beginning of the bout it looked like Conlan, who has just recently moved up to bantamweight (56kg), was going to have a tough nine minutes as the Russian came marching forward from the first bell.
While the Olympic bronze medalist, who was seeded two for the tournament, used his superior movement and speed, as the bout unfolded his opponent, seeded 10, began to find his mark.
Throughout the second and third rounds Conlan went toe to toe, with the referee warning both to keep their heads higher. That style of boxing probably gave an advantage to Nikitin’s harder and more attritional style
In the end the judges called it 30-27, 30-27, 29-28 in favour of Russian.
“It wasn’t my best performance. It’s the first step up into the weight against the strongest boxers, so I’m happy enough,” said Conlan. “In a year’s time I’ll be a different man, as strong as all the boys in the ring today.”
McCarthy finally bowed out on a spilt decision, the Irish heavyweight losing on a 2-1 call to Argentina's Yamil Peralta, the number two seed in the tournament.
McCarthy, who has done better this week than at any other stage of his amateur career, was given the bout by one of the judges but two of the three went against him in a disappointing finish.
The Belfast boxer probably did just a little too much against Peralta and although he was getting through in the exchanges, the Argentinean was a strong puncher and more controlled over the three rounds.
Had McCarthy showed him a little less respect and forced some more exchanges, the result may have been different.
In the end Peralta didn’t do that much more than McCarthy, who wasn’t complaining about the decision but devastated at the outcome.
McCarthy summed it up in one word after the bout. “Gutted,” he said about again being just short of the medals.
Barnes was the third casualty of Ireland's five-man quarter-final day in Almaty. The Irish flyweight lost on a unanimous decision to Jasurbek Latipov after a fractious three rounds of boxing.
Throughout Barnes complained that his Uzbek opponent was using his head and the referee warned both fighters in the second round for illegally using of the head.
The fight began with Barnes marching forward and busily cutting the ring down. But Latipov was also landing from a distance, his big right catching Barnes as he came in.
Several inches shorter than Latipov, Barnes had to get close but from early into the bout but he was unhappy and returned to his corner after three minutes with a visible cut to his head.
The Irish Olympic bronze medal winner never seemed to settle and looked to the referee and his corner as his exasperation increased. Although he never tired of going forward the fight was scrappy and the referee had to intervene on many occasions as the two tangled.
Barnes declined to do interviews afterwards but was clearly still unhappy when he took to Twitter later in the afternoon.
“That’s it all over! Was out on my feet in the 1st round and didn’t recover, blurred vision for 3 rds with head clashes!”
It’s a bitter blow to Barnes, who has won Olympic and European medals but never one at the World Champions.
The three judges scored the Uzbek boxer the winner 27-28, 26-29, 27-28.
