BOXING:AND THEN there was one. The middle bout of the three Irish semi-final adventures was the one which held out the least promise. A Chinese world champion in the ring at Beijing. Zou Shiming, a man you couldn't hit with a couple of handfuls of rice, against Paddy Barnes (21) out of Belfast and learning the ropes.

Zou Shiming, surprisingly, didn't fill the Workers' Gymnasium with his partisans, but those who showed made enough noise to encourage him to his best showing of the Games - which was unfortunate for Barnes.

Zou found a rhythm and a range which put some substance to all the hype and kept the home crowd roaring his name through four rounds of floating and stinging. It was sad that among those most dazzled were the judges, but most people had factored in a little hometown bias anyway.

"I got beat fair and square, but the judging was terrible, so it was," said Paddy when he came through to the mixed zone where at least we stand still when we throw questions. "There is no way I lost 15-0. I scored at least five shots. It's a disgrace. They are going to kill themselves."

The second Irish defeat of the semi-final day had perhaps been the most widely anticipated but that achingly harsh margin of 15-0 hurt Barnes a little more than any of Zou's cobra flicks from the left hand had hurt him. The first thing a fighter brings into the ring with him is his pride. Barnes had seen his pride confiscated.

In fairness to him, he had come to fight. He had come out swinging. He had attempted to draw Zou on. He had gone back to swinging. Most times when he threw punches, however, Zou wasn't there. The few times that he actually landed punches the score wasn't there on the board either. So afterwards Paddy threw a few punches China's way.

"I felt them stick to his face. Just shows you in China, one of the most corrupt countries in the world - I have never seen more corrupt judging. There is no doubt about him winning well. I am just not happy to be getting no points."

He accepted his fate but was long and loud in his questioning the judges who left him with a humiliating duck egg beside his name. Barnes had a point. He had quite clearly landed some solid punches including, most critically in the scheme of things, a solid right to Zou's face at the end of the first when the score was 1-0. The point was instantly credited to the home fighter.

These things happen in amateur boxing, though, and the Irish camp as a whole was less distressed than Paddy.

The conversation between Darren Sutherland and Barnes on the flight home about the value of the bronze medals they will both be wearing around their necks should be interesting.

It was put to Paddy that at the end of the day when you are 21 and fighting in your first Olympics a bronze medal wasn't such a bad going-away present. He was having none of it.

"I don't care," he said "They can keep it for all I care. Bronze is meant for losers."

Billy Walsh, standing behind Barnes all the while with a fatherly look of concern for the hurt the young fighter was displaying, had enough of the old fighter in him to have been entranced by Zou's showing even though his own boy was being hurt.

"He was outclassed tonight. Your man was at the best that he has been in this tournament. He has been unbeatable for the last four or five years around the world and he really turned it on tonight."

Barnes's attitude yesterday was not unlike that already displayed by Zou. Bronze is for losers. Gold is gold is gold. Billy Walsh warmed to their theme. "You are beaten by one or you are beaten by 20. You are beaten. Paddy is probably ashamed that he never scored a point in four rounds of boxing. That's not good for your morale. He certainly had four of five hits on the scoreboard today. In China though they are watching the world champion. Nobody else is really watching Paddy Barnes though."

We nodded feeling a little guilty ourselves. Paddy was good. Zou was amazing. As the rounds wore on we had watched Zou more. He is that kind of draw, that kind of fighter.