Any punters taking a quick glance over the schedule for the last day of boxing today at the Rio Olympics would have been forgiven for thinking that there was an Irishman involved. 'Big' Joe Joyce went up against Tony Yoka of France in the men's super-heavyweight final, and the Londoner, whose father is Irish, was left needing a knockout in the final round to win before eventually losing out on a split decision.
Joyce, speaking after the fight, seemed to indicate that he thought he edged the decision.
It was the last medal for the Olympic Games and I thought the gold was mine, so I will just have to watch it back and see where it went wrong.
I thought all throughout I was throwing punches, going through his guard, and it was just (with) the odd shot he nicked it.
The decision from the judges was not exactly on the same scale as those involving Michael Conlan and Evegny Tischenko in their respective bouts, but it was criticised by several respected boxing authorities-and Robbie Savage-in the aftermath of the fight.
Earlier in the day, Paddy Barnes had predicted that the cards would be unfairly stacked against Joyce...
Think big Joe Joyce will need KO to win today as I think AIBA will want Yoka to win gold as his girlfriend did during the week.......
— Paddy Barnes OLY (@paddyb_ireland) August 21, 2016
...and was (in the opinion of some punters) proved correct in a decision which had many, including Barnes, leaping to express their outrage.
@AIBA_Boxing must have thought big Joe Joyce was Irish because of his name!
— Paddy Barnes OLY (@paddyb_ireland) August 21, 2016
I’m not British, so I’m not being a homer here. Joe Joyce #GBR was flat out robbed against Tony Yoka #FRA.
— Bad Left Hook (@badlefthook) August 21, 2016
How an earth did joe Joyce lose that , can someone explain ???
— Robbie Savage (@RobbieSavage8) August 21, 2016
"The judges are not rewarding the relentless punching from Joe Joyce" - @BigDaddyBunce
One minute left.#Olympicspic.twitter.com/jm9ZMtYry3
— BBC 5 live Sport (@5liveSport) August 21, 2016
Anthony Joshua: For me, Joe Joyce is Olympic champion https://t.co/pJ6yrhX6PO @davidcoldwell @Skyedrobinson @afowler06 @boxingbuatsi
— 𝙒𝙊𝙍𝙇𝘿 𝘽𝙊𝙓𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝙉𝙀𝙒𝙎 (@WorldBoxingNews) August 21, 2016
