Brett McGinty’s first win at the Irish Elite Championships was tarnished somewhat after the Oakleaf welter was given a split decision from a bout he bossed.
McGinty defeated Ross Boyle to reach the semi-finals of the Elite Championships, but the verdict of the ringside judges left the St Johnston man feeling strangely subdued.
By the time the bell sounded for the third round, McGinty’s mind had already turned to next Saturday’s semi-final against Crumlin’s Peter Carr, but when the decision arrived it felt like a jolt.
Two judges scored the fight 30-27 in favour of McGinty and another was 29-28 for McGinty. Perversely, the other two scored the fight 29-28 for Boyle.
“I won every round,” McGinty insisted.
“I wasn’t near 100 per cent but, at the same time, I was comfortable.
“I saw a few surprised faces around the ring at the end.
“Two judges give it for you and two more give it against you. How can that happen? It’s hard to understand and, to be honest, it takes the good out of winning.
“It was surprising. I’m glad I got the decision. A win’s a win and I’ll move onto next week.”
Boyle is a 27-year-old native of Lifford who has been based in London for some times. A regular competitor here, Boyle attempted to go to war and the former kickboxer certainly brought strength to the party.
McGinty arrived here having won 14 of his last 16 competitive outings.
The only blots on the book were a loss to Gurgen Madoyan in the European Youth Championships in Anapa and a controversial defeat to Slovakian Andrej Csemez in the World Youth Championships.
Since that loss at the Sibur Arena in St Petersburg, McGinty – rather than wallow in self-pity – has flipped the coin and upped the stakes. Sparring has got better, training has ramped up and he arrived on the South Circular Road looking everything but a novice at this level.
It was his first Elite bout and his first time in without headgear.
McGinty said: “I was a wee bit nervous, but it’s good to get it out of the way.
“Elite level is a complete different step up. It’s a tight transition.
“Even going from schoolboy to youth is hard, but going to Elite is a different ball game and I know that I have to seriously up it.”
The St Johnston man won his eighth Irish title back in August when he stopped Dubliner Paul Ryan in an Under-18 final, upon this same canvas and he could well be about to take his biggest leap yet – having, just, swayed the ringside power brokers.
Dungloe’s Mark McCole bowed out after suffering a defeat to Dean Walsh in another of the evening’s welterweight quarter-finals.
Southpaw McCole, who last night defeated Fergal Redmond from Arklow in a preliminary round contest at The National Stadium, was always going to be up against it and Walsh took a clean sweep of 30-27 verdicts on the scorecards.
Walsh is a two-time Elite champion at light-welter and while McCole battled gamely, the contest belonged to Walsh, a nephew of former IABA Head Coach Billy Walsh.
McCole had been out of action since September and, while there was obvious ring-rustiness on the west Donegal man’s part, he says the experience will stand to him.
“I’m happy with my performance,” McCole said.
“I didn’t train much over Christmas and hadn’t fought since September.
“I had a good opponent last night and that helped me, but Dean is a very good man and I felt some big shots.
“It’s a good experience for the future.”
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