Joe Ward wasn’t long out of the ring after defeat in his World Championship light-heavyweight final bout when his attention turned to the Rio Olympic Games.
While the 21-year-old Moate native never went into last night’s clash against Julio La Cruz, of Cuba, with losing in mind, he had achieved his main objectives in Doha by reaching the 81kg decider and claiming the Olympic place that came with that achievement.
Ward failed to match Michael Conlan’s gold medal, an historic first for Ireland at the tournament, but matched the achievement of Jason Quigley’s 2013 silver and became just the third Irishman to reach a World final.
The 21-year-old southpaw also picked up his second World medal having claimed bronze in 2013 as Team Ireland finished fourth in the medals table in Doha, with three medals – Michael O’Reilly’s bronze being the third.
Suggesting he will be back in training soon after a short break with his partner, children and family, Ward said: “Hopefully I can keep progressing from this and hopefully when the time comes in Rio, I can get one over him.”
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The reference to ‘him’ was made in regards to La Cruz, who became a three-time senior world champion with a 30-27 victory on all three scorecards last night in a 3-0 unanimous decision win.
Ward fought valiantly at the Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiya Arena, but maybe not with the reckless aggression that he needed to – a tactic which would have carried major risks.
“It’s very hard against someone who moves so well,” said Ward on his crafty approach in the opening round. “I went in there and my tactics were to stay in centre and keep him at distance but he’s a world-class operator but it’s very hard to run him down in any way.”
Boxing La Cruz at any distance, either inside and up close or at range, seems a difficult prospect no matter what the approach.
The 26-year-old Cuban possesses a long reach and fast hands that snap away at pursuing opponents.
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“The first round was nip and tuck, but the Cuban landed a couple of right hands near the end of the round,” said Irish head coach Billy Walsh. “He had an aura around him going into the ring had been voted Boxer of the Year [by AIBA] a couple of nights ago.
“That tells you something. A couple of his shots at the end of the round might have swayed the judges if they hadn’t made up their mind. Once you go behind a round we had to chase him,” added Walsh, who speculated in the build-up that the decision of the fight may have been made before the opening bell considering La Cruz picked up his Boxer of the Year award on Tuesday night in advance of the bout.
The Irish head coach admitted last night that it was a fair result, however.
“We thought of throwing caution to the wind from the start, but that’s playing into this guy’s hands because of his speed and movement,” said Walsh. “We tried to sit on him and make him punch and then counter or meet him beforehand.”
Ward picked up the pace and try to go for his opponent in the final round and a cut from an accidental head-butt opened a cut over the right eye of La Cruz as the fighters tangled.
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The Moate fighter piled forward to no avail, but he greatly improved on his 2013 world semi-final loss to the Cuban.
“Overall he gave a great account of himself at these championships,” said Walsh. “It was a fantastic championship for him. He’s only the third Irishman to be in the final has got a silver medal which is great because he is still only 21 and has a great future ahead of him.”
Meanwhile, O’Reilly may have to wait until December to find out his Olympic fate.
The Portlaoise middleweight lost out in controversial fashion to Egypt’s Hosam Abdin on Wednesday night in a third-place Olympic box-off.
World governing body AIBA confirmed that National Olympic Committees (NOCs) have until December 4th to confirm their use of Olympic quota places, meaning some confusion remains surrounding the status of Cuba’s world champion Arlen Lopez.
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Lopez is now qualified for Rio through both the World Championships and the World Series of Boxing competition, meaning an Olympic slot may open up for O’Reilly thanks to his World bronze medal for reaching a semi-final, but the situation remains shrouded in uncertainty.