Michael Conlan sees off biggest rival for gold in Glasgow

Northern Ireland fighter Michael Conlan eliminated his biggest rival for the bantamweight gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow with a unanimous victory over India's Shiva Thapa at the round of 16 stage.

The 22-year-old Olympic bronze medallist from Belfast was helped when Thapa was penalised for leading with the head in the third and final round, but Conlan was already well ahead on the scorecards after a disciplined display against his aggressive opponent.

The open draw at the Commonwealth Games pitted World No 2 Conlan against No 3 Thapa and it was a fight high on technical merit.

A clash of heads in the opening round would have worried Conlan’s corner, including his father John, after a nick to the scalp in his opening bout led to bleeding. There was none this time around and Conlan’s defence was top class against an opponent who was trying to box in close.

Conlan took the first round from all three scoring judges, scoring well from range, while Thapa was full of industry, albeit with little in the way of solid hits.

Behind on the scorecards, Thapa ramped up is aggressive approach in the second round and impressed one of the judges, but Conlan still won the round 2-1.

Staying out of trouble in the final three minutes, Conlan was caught again by Thapa’s head, with Canadian referee Tony Germain penalising the Indian fighter and effectively ending the contest.

“That performance wasn’t my best. I was a bit nervous going into that fight. But there is a lot more to come from me,” said Conlon.

“He tried to come in and be a bit of a roughhouse which doesn’t really work for him. It works more for me. He was quite dirty and rough today so I’m just happy to get the win.

“Anything else but gold would be a major disappointment for me. Gold’s the only thing I want. Gold’s the thing I’m going to get.”

Conlan moves on to the quarter-finals where he will face Uganda's Bashir Nasir on Wednesday afternoon.

In the last bout of the afternoon session, Derry middleweight Connor Coyle beat Dennis Thomas of Guyana on a unanimous points decision to progress into the last eight where he will face Siphiwe Lusizi of South Africa.

However Coyle was not happy with his lacklustre performance in the second round.

He said: “I fell asleep in the second round and I knew I had to pick it up in the last round.

“You get those days when you fall asleep and you have to give yourself a kick and pick it up.

“I had to dig deep and push on but I enjoyed it.”

In the evening session, defending champion Paddy Barnes had far too much class for Tanzania's Hamadi Omari Furahisha in his light flyweight round of 16 bout with the Brazilian referee stopping the contest with a minute left in the final round after a third standing count.

The two-time Olympic bronze medallist looked in supreme condition as he landed flurries of combinations on his opponent from the first bell.

Tight in defence also, Barnes saw the referee hand Furahisha a first standing eight count in the second round and two further came in the third round before the bout was stopped and the 27-year-old Belfast fighter went through to the quarter-finals on a technical knock-out.

Barnes will now meet Papua New Guinea’s Charles Keama on Wednesday after he enjoyed a unanimous verdict over Botswana’s Mooketsi Lekgetho.