Joyce coming to terms with exit from Games

BOXING:THERE IS no moment of suffering in Olympic sport quite like that experienced by a tough, young boxer trying to come to terms with defeat. "What I did today," Johnny Joyce told us between the tears, "I have to live with for four years."

We told him he fought well, recovered brilliantly. It's hard to know if Joyce even heard us. Had old Confucius been at hand, even he would have had a hard time consoling him.

It probably wasn't fair to put Joyce in this position so soon after losing - on the narrow countback - to Felix Diaz, the 24-year-old from the Dominican Republic who had just moments earlier told us, "It was a very aggressive fight, the whole fight. But it was a great fight."

Joyce chose to face us. He'd walked from the arena with the decision still sinking in. He'd come from 5-1 down in the first round, to lead 11-10 in the fourth, with 10 seconds remaining. Then Diaz landed one more point. 11-11. Defeat, on countback.

"It's hard, the Olympics. Losing . . . ," he said, and paused. "Hopefully I can come back. But it's hard. I'm young, but at the same time, four years is a long time away. You don't know what's going to happen. You don't know what's going to happen tomorrow."

The 20-year-old, who fights out of St Michael's club in Athy, had come to Beijing as one of the rank outsiders at light-welterweight, but after he eased through his opening bout, the natural assumption was anything was possible. Not necessarily so.

"Well, it was a scrappy enough fight. He came pretty strong. I didn't expect him to be as strong. We were in close, working, and I was trying to get out of it. I tried to get away from. At the end of the day he was stronger. And better."

Joyce had erred, perhaps fatally, in incurring a warning for holding in the first round, a two-point award for Dias. Then he drew level in the third round, pulled ahead, and held the advantage. Then let it slip at the last.

"Yeah, I regrouped after that first round. Some people will say I froze. But I was ready. It wasn't me at the end of the day. It was a good performance, but that's boxing.

"The hold was early on. But I deserved it. He was always in my face, and I didn't know how to deal with it. He could have been given the warning too, though. His face was in my head the whole time. But the referee only looked at me. That's the way it is."

Midway through the last round, Irish coach Billy Walsh was raging, too much. Referee Jae Bong Kim of Korea ordered him out of the arena. It was symbolic, perhaps, that the Zen of the Irish boxing was disturbed.

"I was afraid that he was going to get another warning," Walsh explained. "It looked pretty imminent, he was holding a lot. He was fortunate though, when you look at it, because the referee was lenient after that.

"He did give it to him pretty quickly but we got a letter this morning, everyone got a letter, saying that anybody who held or danced around without punching they would come down heavy on them. I showed it to him today, so there's no excuse.

"I have no complaints. He deserved the warning. I don't think Diaz deserved one. John Joe was doing the stuff. Without the warning, we would have won.

"We could have got more warnings but at the end of the day it was down to 15 seconds. One more punch."

So, four years until Joyce gets his chance at redemption. If only it was that simple."It's hard for him at the moment, he is going to be down. He is going to be down for a long, long time. I've been through this myself so I know what it's like.

"He has got to live with it for the four years but he should stick with it. He's a kid, he's 20 years of age.

"But I suppose when you are 20, four years is a long time. It should feel like the end of the world because it's not pretty to lose and you shouldn't be happy to lose.

"He shouldn't be going around partying with a smile on his face. He should be sick to his teeth. He put in a tremendous amount of work, and he did really well to get there, but we preach it to them: when you get the opportunity you have got to . . . take it. There is no second chance.

"You might not be here in four years. He could find it very difficult to qualify in four years' time. That's the name of the game. It's sport, it's cruel and we all suffer."

It's true. We all suffered a little last night.