There is a very unpopular man in Baku right now and his name is Brendan Irvine. He's also gained instant popularity on the Irish team as the first medal winner at these European Games.
That's because Irvine has guaranteed himself at least a bronze medal by defeating local gold medal hope Salman Alizada from Azerbaijan in what was a brilliantly rousing light fly-weight quarter-final. The Belfast fighter now goes into Thursday's semi-final with at least a bronze medal in his back pocket, but of course fighting for the chance of a brighter colour.
Alizada certainly made the Irish boxer earn the passage through, as the 19 year-old Irvine lost the first round, narrowly claimed the second, and then piled on the punches in the third round to win the split decision. It was tense, nervous contest, especially with the loudly partisan crowd inside Baku’s Crystal Hall getting firmly behind their man
“It was a proper battle,” said Irvine, just 19, “and I knew it was going to be. He was the number one seed coming in here, but you have to go out there, focus on the performance, leave everything in the ring. But this is only the start of the journey for me.”
“And I knew the atmosphere would be like that. And to be honest, the atmosphere probably drove me on, more than it did him. So I just focused on the performance. They were always going to back him, from the start, but the crowd had no effect on me, to be honest. I just focused on what I had to do.”
Indeed Alizada took the first round (30-20), with Irvine taking the second (29-28), but all three judges gave Irvine the third round (30-27) and with that he nailed the split decision (2-1)
“I just stuck to the plan, always felt confident. That comes from the corner, the coaches, who just tell me now to let the crowd overtake me. I’ve been down here the last few days, and getting the feel of the crowd. But again it comes to the experience of this team. We’re like a family here.”
This split decision was greeted by a stunned silence by the home support, although there was denying Irvine had done enough to claim what will prove to be a historic win - the moment Ireland won its first medal at these first European Games.
“It’s very special to be the first Irish medal winner. But it won’t be the last. Definitely won’t be.”
Next up for Irvine in Thursday’s semi-final bout is Dmytro Zamatayev from Ukraine, who scored a unanimous win in his quarter-final, and looks a pretty daunting prospect. Yet no more than Alizada did.
Flyweight Ceire Smith went out at the quarter-final stages against Russia's Saiana Sagataeva.
The 22-year-old from Cavan BC won the first round, winning the vote from two of the three scoring judges, but lost the final two rounds to bow out on a split decision .
Clonmel super-heavyweight Dean Gardiner was no match for French number three seed Tony Yoka as he went down to a unanimous 3-0 defeat in their quarter-final.
Gardiner failed to deal with Yoka’s exceptional movement and footwork as he gave an exhibition of how to avoid being hit, while also finding his way through Gardiner’s guard to score regularly.
