WATERFORD’S KELYN CASSIDY suffered a unanimous-decision defeat to Belarusian Aliaksei Alfiorau in their 80kg quarter-final at the AIBA World Elite Men’s Boxing Championships in Belgrade, missing out on a medal in his first ever outing at the Worlds.

Cassidy was decisively second best against his fellow southpaw, albeit he finished the stronger of the two as Alfiorau — his face already marked up from his previous fight — tried to stay out of dodge.

The European U22 medalist from Belarus was almost a better-oiled version of Cassidy himself, beating the Irish senior champion with slicker footwork and cleaner backhand counters throughout the contest.

Cassidy scarcely disgraced himself in his first outing at this level, mind, and his progress to the last eight of the Worlds will see him receive €20,000 in World Class-tier funding from Sport Ireland next year, which will significantly aid his ability to train as the elite talent which he proved himself to be over the past 10 days in Serbia.

The Saviours Crystal man, 24, was the only member of a young and inexperienced Irish squad to progress beyond his first bout, and a World Championship quarter-final was quite the checkpoint to reach just under three years out from the Paris Olympics.

Cassidy, who stunned Cork’s Tommy Hyde in the Irish Senior final just last month, will aim to make that Irish vest his own in the coming years after announcing himself in some style in the final quarter of 2022.