In Northern Ireland’s final chance at striking gold in the ring at the Commonwealth Games, Jon McConnell came good in defeating Orlando Holley-Sotomi of Wales on a split-decision in the men’s light middleweight final.
The Holy Trinity boxer delivered in style, adding a further gold medal to Northern Ireland’s tally after Kate O’Connor’s triumph in the heptathlon on Wednesday.
McConnell, who turned down a place on Love Island in order to prepare for the Games, said of win: “It doesn’t feel real at the minute. I said I was going to do it and I’ve done it.
The 23-year-old two-time Irish elite champion added: “We knew he (Holley-Sotomi) was strong. The game plan was to outbox him. He caught me in the first round and I got my scores more in the second round.
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“He’s big and he’s strong, fair play to him. It was the matador against the bull, and the matador won today.”
Earlier, in the women’s featherweight final, Michaela Walsh lost out in her bid for consecutive gold medals. The 14-time national title winner, who struck gold in Birmingham four years ago, was defeated by reigning world champion Jaismine Lamboria of India.
Walsh took silver for her efforts this week, having also finished second at the 2014 and 2018 Commonwealth Games.
The boxers were twice urged to engage in a very cagey first round. Walsh was the more positive in the final 90 seconds of the opener, but three of the five judges still gave the round to Lamboria.
The Indian boxer showed glimpses of class in the second, making the most of her height and reach advantage to go ahead with three judges heading into the final round.
Walsh, needing a standing count, changed her tactics and came forward more to land several shots, but it also allowed Lamboria to pick her off when required.
The result was a unanimous victory for the Indian boxer, with three judges scoring it 29-28 and two 30-27 in Lamboria’s favour.
Walsh raised her rival’s arm in celebration, but there was regret for the Belfast fighter, who felt she should have been on level terms going into the third round.
“It was a really close fight,” she said. “She was 3-2 ahead after the first round and then obviously she was three-up with the judges going into the last round.
“I felt it was level going into the last round but you have to take a few more risks in the last round and I was getting caught by a few shots. Had it been level going into that round, I maybe wouldn’t have taken those risks.
“But I felt it was a great fight, I was in it the whole way and the judges just veered towards her a little more today.”
Overall, she was pleased with silver. “I’ve had a tough year but to be back on the world stage is a huge achievement, so I’m proud of it,” she added.
In Saturday’s women’s welterweight final, Kaci Rock also earned silver after he was beaten by England’s Sacha Hickey.
The 23-year-old produced a magnificent comeback on Friday to claim a semi-final victory over Scotland’s Caitlin Rainey and had to replicate the feat after falling behind in the first round against the Hickey.
Born in Belfast and raised in Greystones, Rock – whose father, Jim, was a four-weight Irish champion – had to be on the front foot to get inside the reach of her southpaw rival, and managed just that towards the latter stages of the first round. However, it was scored 10-9 in Hickey’s favour by all five judges after her strong start.
Hickey had all the answers to Rock’s industrious effort, producing a string of effective left uppercuts to dominate the contest and leave herself in full control heading into the third round.
The 22-year-old comfortably saw off Rock’s final salvos to claim a unanimous victory.
