BRETT MCGINTY has shared in frustration after becoming the latest victim of dubious scoring in amateur boxing.
The 18-year-old St Johnston man was beaten on a split decision by Andrej Csemez at the Sibur Arena in St Petersburg at the World Youth Championships.
The Oakleaf ABC welter grew into the bout and seemed in total command by the final round.
The reaction at the end of the two boxers told its own story and it appeared clear that McGinty was the victor. But the roof caved in on him as the referee, Valerii Pastuhov, held the arm of the Slovakian Csemez.
McGinty was the busier boxer and landed the cleaner shots for the duration of the bout, but the scoring left a lot to be desired.
[adrotate group=”46″]Particularly questionable were the verdicts of Chinese Taipei judge Jun-Ming Chen – who gave all three rounds 10-9 to Csemez for a 30-27 overall – and especially the Columbian Wulfren Olivares Perez, who somehow managed to come down 10-8 against McGinty in the final round.
Italian Maria Rizzardo and Bulgarian Pavel Pavlov both scored the contest 29-28 in McGinty’s favour, but the third round decision of the Columbian was key in swaying the decision in Csemez’s favour.
[adrotate group=”85″]It left McGinty and his coaches – John Conlan and Billy McClean – seething.
McGinty’s supporters at home watched horrified as their man – the Irish captain – had his dream crushed in agonising circumstances.
McGinty posted a message on social media outlining his disappointment and it was a message that showed just why Irish chiefs appointed him as their captain:
Tags:Unfortunately my world championships ended today in a fight I felt I had definitely won especially the last round which a Colombian judge gave against me 10:8 which over everything frustrates me the most, these decisions seem to happen way too often in boxing for whatever reason I will never know,would like to thank everyone for the support really do appreciate it, very proud to captain my country at such a big tournament didn’t get the gold medal me and all the boys came for but there wasn’t much I could do about it, we still have 6 quality boxers left in the tournament and no doubt a few gold medals in them
? Today aside it’s been a great journey with an even better team and hopefully we’ll have more to look forward to in the future. Team Ireland ☘☘
