By Terence Dooley
Paddy Barnes suffered a shock upset defeat at the Rio Games yesterday, but one of his chief supporters has claimed that the Belfast-based boxer was hard done by on the cards following his nip-and-tuck tussle with Spain’s Samuel Carmona in the 49kg division. A score of 29-28 in his favour was overturned by two lots of 29-28 to send him home much earlier than many expected.
Gerry Storey, Barnes’s coach, believes that his man did enough to progress to the Round of 16 and that he was on the wrong end of a poor verdict for the second Olympics in a row despite Barnes admitting that the weight “killed me” and revealing that he would have struggled in his next fight even if he had got the nod on the cards.
“I thought it was a good, close fight and thought he could have got it,” stated Storey when speaking to the Belfast Telegraph.
“But Paddy is very unlucky on decisions, because at the last Olympics, in my book, he should have been gold medal winner. To me he was robbed of that one. I think that's the last we’ll be seeing of him in the light-flyweight division because it's been tough on him making the weight for the last few years.”
Storey also acknowledged that it is high time for a move up in weight for the 29-year-old boxer, saying: “It's tough going for him. I thought he could have made it, but at the same time making the weight was a strain for him.”
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