IRISH WELTERWEIGHT STEVEN Donnelly has progressed to the quarter-finals of the Rio Olympics with a split decision victory over Tuvshinbat Byamba of Mongolia.
On a difficult week for Irish boxing, the 27-year-old progressed to the last-eight after a close contest and now stands just one bout away from a medal.
The Ballymena fighter, who defeated Algerian Zohir Kadache by unanimous decision on his debut in Rio, was up 10-9 10-9 9-10 after the opening exchanges this evening.
After a messy second round, his opponent had pulled level on two scorecards – 19-19, 19-19, 20-18 — but Donnelly edged out the win in final three minutes.
“Everything went to plan,” Donnelly told RTÉ afterwards. “It was a really tough fight, and I knew it would be.
I dug in until the very end and here I am — won my first two fights and I’m starting to feel good now.”
He faces Moroccan number one and world champion Mohammed Rabii in the next round.
The42 is on Snapchat! Tap the button below on your phone to add!
Does anyone know how to watch this tonight, besides streaming?
@dowthebow: the pay per view is available for €15 on YouTube for the Uk. Hopefully this also extends into Ireland
@Jah: Looks like it’s going to be available to Ireland now too. €17.03 for the Bellator NYC card, but seemingly Bellator 180 (which Gallagher is on) will be free: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsPTeB-P9Ck
@dowthebow: download Mobdro and search for spike tv