Irish news on Badar-Uugan’s next rival
Enkhbat Badar-Uugan, 23, World Championship silver medalist of Mongolia, defeated his first rival Mexico’s Oscar Valdez yesterday. His next competitor is Ireland’s youngest male athlete John Joe Nevin.
Irish news reporter in Beijing writes that,
Classy display from Nevin continues perfect start in the ring.
Ireland’s youngest male Olympian, John Joe Nevin, believes anything is possible after surviving yesterday’s war of attrition with Algerian Abdelhalim Ourradi in the Workers’ Gymnasium.
The Mullingar 19-year-old survived the docking of two points in an angry, untidy encounter to win 9-4 in front of a boisterous Irish following. The result reverses a countback defeat Nevin suffered against the same fighter in a French training camp two months ago.
He now faces World Championship silver medallist Badar-Uugan Enkhbat of Mongolia next Friday for a place in the last eight of the bantamweight tournament.
Nevin’s performance lacked a little of the composure that brought him a gold medal at Olympic qualifying in Pescara, Italy, earlier this year but the victory completes a perfect first round for Irish boxers in Beijing, Kenny Egan and John Joe Joyce having also won.
Nevin revealed that he had spent much of yesterday with coach Billy Walsh and sports psychologist Gerry Hussey.
“All of that helps in the end,” he insisted. “The boys were telling me to believe in myself. I knew I could beat him (Ourradi). He beat me two months ago on countback but, watching the video, I could see what I had to do.
“I’m only 19 and all I’m really looking to do here is perform.”
The referee was constantly engaged in a scrappy affair that saw both boxers docked points in the third for incessant holding. Given that Nevin had received a warning for the same offence in their previous fight, Walsh, was not amused.
“I was annoyed because he was caught for the exact same thing again” said Walsh. “So that’s a real mistake when you don’t learn from it the first time. And there’s no need for him to be in there because he’s a very good mover.”
Neither man registered a point in a testy opening round and, while Nevin edged the second 3-2, it was the fourth before he began to box with any telling fluency.
“I got a bit of a slow start” he agreed. “The Olympics is a big stage, but I’m getting over that now. Next fight, hopefully, I’ll be better.
“I wasn’t getting many scores but the lads started saying left to body and right hand to the head. And they were right. Once I got that off, I was scoring.”
Walsh believes Nevin’s age may give Enkhbat, the Asian champion and Mongolia’s current ‘Athlete of the Year’ a false sense of security.
Until his triumph in Pescara, the High Performance programme had identified Nevin as a likely competitor for London 2012. Yet his performances in Italy highlighted a remarkable talent.
Walsh said: “I was saying to him all along ‘You’ll be in for 2012′, but he just went and qualified straight away.
“John Joe’s timing is excellent normally, but today wasn’t what it should be. But he’s in the tournament now. And his next opponent is a world silver medalist. So he’s back to a situation where he’s a nobody going in and he performs well in that environment.”
Nevin was in control of the final round, winning 3-0 and even taking the opportunity to wave to the Irish supporters as Ourradi began to flail.
“The support was great,” he grinned. “Even the Chinese were on our side when they saw the number eight on the hood. I was kind of concerned when I got docked the points. I knew I had to get them back and it was a bit of a relief when he got deducted two as well so quickly.
“A year ago my main concern was a senior title. Now I’m here at the Olympics. It’s unbelievable.”
Walsh believes Nevin’s scope for improvement is immense now he has won his first bout.
“It wasn’t the most fantastic of performances, but the last time they fought was very similar. There was a bit of needle between both of them and you could see that. So we’re happy with the result, not that happy with the performance. But he’s overturned a previous decision, just like John Joe Joyce did. That has to be good.”
- Vincent Hogan in Beijing
Source:www.independent.ie
![[Most Recent Quotes from www.kitco.com]](http://www.kitconet.com/charts/metals/gold/tny_au_en_uskg_2.gif)
Loading ...
One Response to “Irish news on Badar-Uugan’s next rival”
By Hantulga on Aug 13, 2008 | Reply
Badar-Uugan will kick Irish ass.