PADDY BARNES WAS left fuming as his World Championship bid ended in disappointment.
The Belfast fighter was on the wrong end of a unanimous decision against Jasurbek Latipov of Uzbekistan in flyweight quarter-finals.
Afterwards he slammed the recent rule changes and the decision to have boxers fight without protective headgear for the first time.
Barnes was cut over his eye and never appeared to recover from a clash which dazed him in the first round.
Both fighters were given warnings by the referee and eventually deducted a point in the second round before Latipov went on to win 28-27, 28-27, 29-26.
Afterwards Barnes tweeted:
That’s it all over! Was out on my feet in the 1st round and didn’t recover, blurred vision for 3 rds with head clashes! Fuck your no headgear!
Fighting with no headgear is good, but to fight 6 times in 10 days without it is impossible, [AIBA President] Dr Wu doesn’t care he isn’t the one fighting
“The fight was going according to plan,” coach Billy Walsh told Kenneth Egan afterwards.
“He was closing your man down, working him well in the first minute and a half.
“He fell to the ground with his man, and his man landed on him with his knee in the side of his head.
After that he was scattered. He didn’t really know an awful lot about the fight.He tried his heart out right to the bell and he was just unfortunate I think.
Only for that blow I think we had a real opportunity to win that fight.
There was better news for Jason Quigley and Joe Ward who booked places in the semi-finals and guaranteed bronze medals at minimum.
But Michael Conlan and Tommy McCarthy lost in the bantamweight and heavyweight divisions.
Fighting continues in Almaty on Friday.
