While Josh Buatsi lost on Tuesday, bowing out with a bronze medial - there was better news for the Great Britain squad on Tuesday, wins for Nicola Adams and Joe Joyce guaranteed they will leave the Games having hit their UK Sport target of at least three medals.
But both Adams and Joyce will join Buatsi on the podium and there are hopes Savannah Marshall could make it four when she meets old foe Nouchka Fontijn in their women’s middleweight bout on Wednesday.
Joyce said: “I was looking for the knockout but when that didn’t happen I wanted to win the fight clearly and make sure the judges were going to go my way and that’s what I managed to do.
“It means a lot to me to win an Olympic medal and whatever happens it is obviously better than nothing. But now I’m here the only thing I am focusing on is going all the way to gold.”
Earlier, Nicola Adams became the first British boxer to win two Olympic medals in 56 years when she beat Tetyana Kob to advance to the semi-finals of the women’s flyweight division.
Victory ensured a second consecutive medal for Adams, the first British boxer to achieve the feat since Scotsman Dick McTaggart claimed gold and bronze in 1956 and 1960 respectively.
Adams said: “She was a tough opponent who didn’t stop coming forward and she was aggressive and quite strong.
“I just had to get through. I felt a little bit of the ring-rust but I’ve got the first fight out of the way and it’ll be different next time I fight in the semi-finals.
“It (another medal) means everything for me because I came here to win another medal, but I always want the gold.”
Adams will face China’s Ren Cancan in the semi-finals, the same opponent she out-boxed and floored on her way to winning the London 2012 final four years ago.
