IRELAND’S JOE WARD has been beaten by Carlos Andres Mina of Ecuador in the men’s light heavy 81 kg at the Rio Olympics tonight.

The Irish boxer lost via split decision, 27-28, 28-27, 28-27, as another big boxing medal hope saw his dreams of glory die prematurely.

Despite some controversy over the outcome, Ward looked sluggish and well below his best throughout the bout, as the Westmeath native was left to rue two costly point deductions.

It comes after a bad week for Irish boxing in which both Paddy Barnes and David Oliver Joyce suffered defeats, while Michael O’Reilly was sent home after failing a drugs test.

Speaking on RTÉ after the fight, former Irish boxing star Bernard Dunne lamented Ward’s loss and acknowledged: “There’s no doubt our team hasn’t performed so far.”

However, fellow panellists Michael Carruth and Kellie Harrington played down suggestions that Irish boxing was suffering owing to the departure of high-performance coach Billy Walsh prior to the Olympics.

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Source: The42: Rio 2016 Olympics/SoundCloud