The fourth competition day delivered twenty-four excellent contests in the Commonwealth Games and among them the Europeans won nine. The winners advanced to the quarter-finals of the Games on Day4 when Scotland, Northern Ireland and England all shined in Birmingham. Jude Gallagher delivered the main sensation of the day following his quick success against England’s favourite Niall Farrell.
The Commonwealth Games is one of the top multisport events next to the Olympic Games and European Games and after four years of break, the competition returned to the agenda. Altogether 231 boxers from 55 out of the 72 participating NOCs are competing in the boxing event of the new Commonwealth Games from all of the five Confederations. The finals of the Commonwealth Games will be held in Birmingham on August 7.
The bout of the day
England had amazing lightweight (60kg) boxers in the previous years and despite many of them turning to professional, the coaching staff found the best option for the Commonwealth Games. England’s Gemma Richardson had amazing successes in the junior, youth and U22 age groups in the European and World level. She had a hard first bout against Scotland’s Megan Reid who reached the quarter-finals at the 2019 AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships. Both boxers had nice technical skills and landed a similar number of punches in the first round. Reid had an excellent single attack in the second round but Richardson had the right answers and her patient style of boxing meant that the young English girl started the third with advantage. The 20-year-old Richardson overcame the lone Scottish girl of the event and controlled the last round against the tiring opponent.
The surprise of the day
Following Clepson Antonio Dos Santos Paiva’s narrow success at the flyweight (51kg), another Northern Irish boxer, Jude Gallagher stepped into the ring during the evening session. The 21-year-old featherweight (57kg) boxer not only enjoyed his participation in the Commonwealth Games but marched to the last eight in Birmingham. Gallagher caught England’s favourite, the former EUBC European Boxing Championships silver medallist Niall Farrell with tough shots in the first minute. Following the second standing count, the referee stopped the contest and Gallagher bowed out one of the stars of the Games.
The Round-Up
Scotland had a fantastic Sunday at the Commonwealth Games and their next boxer in action was a 20-year-old talent, Lennon Mulligan from Glasgow. The Scottish boxer competed in two AIBA Championships in 2021, in Kielce first as youth, then in Belgrade as elite. Mulligan was a member of the Scottish team in the EUBC U22 European Boxing Championships in Porec and also in the elite Europeans in Yerevan. The Scottish landed effective straight shots and controlled the first round against Kiribati’s newcomer Eriu Temakau. The 19-year-old boxer from Kiribati is one of their four-strong teams and despite his lack of international experiences, he tried to adapt to the level of the contest. Temakau was better from closer distance but Mulligan’s experience decided their Round of 16 bout today.
Wales has a new team in this Commonwealth Games in comparison to their last line-ups in the 2018 edition in Gold Coast. One of their new hopefuls is Jake Dodd who started his boxing career relatively late but he worked hard to be there at the Games. The flyweight (51kg) boxer had extra motivation in the first round and he tried to finish his contest very quickly. His opponent, Lesotho’s Retselisitsoe Kolobe competed in African events previously and he was not able to stop the aggressive Welsh attacks. Dodd’s pressure was decisive in the second round and the referee confirmed his RSC success.
Scotland’s Sean Lazzerini returned to the national team in recent months after several years of international experience. His teammates impressed the experts and the crowd in the previous two competition days and Lazzerini tried to follow their outstanding footsteps in Birmingham. He faced Mauritius’ Jean-Luc Rosalba who moved up to the light heavyweight (80kg) but he was not able to adopt Lazzerini’s rhythm in the first round. Lazzerini finished the first round with two quick shots and took the lead on the scorecards but he could still increase his tempo in the second. Following the continuous standings counts, the Hungarian referee stopped the contest in the third round.
A 21-year-old light heavyweight (80kg) boxer, Taylor Bevan is Welsh best hope in this Commonwealth Games next to the Croft twin brothers. He has four years of strong international experiences, several tournament titles and he is in perfect shape in this multisport event. Bevan was different in size as his Samoan opponent, the former Youth Olympian Jancen Poutoa, and he landed much stronger shots in the first round. The powerful Welsh boxer knocked down the Samoan twice in their Round of 16 contest and among them the second was decisive.
