Nevin through to Olympic final
John Joe Nevin will fight for gold in the men's Olympic bantamweight final tomorrow night against Great Britain's Luke Campbell after he defeated Cuba's Alvarez Estrada 19-14 in his semi-final at the ExCel arena.
Nevin started well, edging into a 5-3 lead against his Cuban opponent, and although Alvarez responded by landing some sweet punches in the second round the Mullingar-man still claimed it 7-6 to take a 12-9 lead into the final three minutes.
A fantastic contest continued right up until the final few seconds and although Nevin looked a tad tired in the final minute, he ended winning by five points.
Nevin said: "I am up there with the best in the world and I can be the best in the world if I put my mind to it and get a good performance.
“My performances are getting better every day and hopefully come the final I’ll be ready for the final and get better again.
“It was a good performance. I was up against the world champion so I had to push myself. I’m delighted, I’m over the moon.
“I just want to head in and relax now and think about the next contest tomorrow.
“I’ll enjoy the night now and there will be another big step tomorrow but it seems to be I’m getting better as it goes along, so hopefully I can be ready.”
