Team GB boxer Delicious Orie feels Olympic gold has been “taken away” from him after losing by split decision to Davit Chaloyan.
A cagey start in the men’s super-heavyweight category saw Chaloyan throw some good hooks, but Orie grew into the round and took control with some solid jabs.
A closer contest followed in the next round, where the Armenian put on a stronger display, but Orie continued to land well. Orie then threw some explosive punches in the final round, including a brilliant right hook to Chaolyan’s face.
However, his Olympic hopes came to a close following a 3-2 loss on points, meaning Great Britain have now lost all four of their bouts so far and have just two boxers left in the Games.
“I can’t believe it,” Orie admitted. “I’m absolutely gutted. For the past eight years, I’ve dreamt about that Olympic gold medal and it’s been taken away from me.
“It could be me, it could be the judges, but at the end of the day, that’s what’s happened. I feel like I’ve let myself down and my family.”
Did Orie do enough for victory?
Orie’s is the latest early exit in controversial fashion for a British boxer, following on from Rosie Eccles and Charley Davison losing by the same margin in their respective weight classes.
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Geraint Hughes explains Team GB’s Charley Davison and Rosie Eccles’ controversial boxing exits at the Olympics.
Sky Sports News has asked Team GB for comment, with officials understood to be furious with the split-decisions involving Eccles and Davison over the first two days of competition.
“I’m not a judge so I can’t really tell you which way it went,” Orie added. “It’s too soon for me to start saying it’s unfair or fair, whatever it is. I do think I was a little bit hard done by, it was very close and I felt like I just did enough.
Orie felt he did enough to win the fight and reach the quarter-finals
“You can argue the same for Rosie, you can argue the same for Charley, so I knew I had to go in strong and hard, but at the same time I didn’t want to overcommit myself.
“At the end of the day that was the result, I had to just accept with both hands and move on.”
Eccles and Davison also exit for Team GB
Eccles was left in tears on Sunday after a controversial defeat to Poland’s Aneta Rygielska that she said “really shocked” her. The Welsh boxer, who missed the Tokyo Games three years ago through illness and injury, was eliminated by a 3-2 split decision that drew boos and jeers around the North Paris Arena.
Rosie Eccles made an early exit in the women’s 66kg competition
A boxer knows when they have won a fight,” Eccles said ringside as she momentarily fought back the tears. “I knew I had won the fight so I am really, really shocked. It feels like I am in a dream right now, but not a great one.”
Davison, who was beaten by split decision on the opening day against former world champion Hatice Akbas, said: “I made a slow start and picked up towards the end but it was not enough. In the second and third rounds, I upped the pressure and scored with some shots. What more could I do?”
There are now just two Team GB boxers left in the Olympics. Middleweight Chantelle Reid faces Morcco’s Khadija Mardi – the 2023 world champion – on Wednesday, with light-middleweight Lewis Richardson taking on Serbia’s Vakhid Abbasov in the last-16 later that evening.
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