VideoNEW
Podcasts
Blogs
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Luke Campbell emulated team mate Nicola Adams's golden performance on Saturday when he handed the host's men's team their first success, beating Irish bantamweight John Joe Nevin in front a buzzing London crowd.
World championship silver medallist Campbell, who beat Nevin in the semi-finals of last year's event by the tightest of margins, came out on top of another close contest, knocking the Irishman down in the final round to seal a 14-11 victory.
Further stoking the rivalry, the pair's families are friends and that spilled into a first round that was among the best of the last fortnight at the boxing arena and Campbell, sitting back and counter-punching, took it by a margin of two points.
Nevin, who resisted the temptation of turning professional to better his performance at the Beijing Games when he returned home empty-handed, caught the 24-year-old Briton with the tougher shots in the second round to close the gap to a point.
However, there seemed little doubt about the result halfway through the final round when Nevin leaned to try and land a left only to be put on his back by a countering right hook that sent the British half of the crowd wild.
Campbell was close to tears as he awaited the verdict and could hold them no longer when the result was announced, embracing Nevin and holding his hand up before leaving the ring to a huge reception.
Losing semi-finalists Lazaro Alvarez Estrada of Cuba and Satoshi Shimizu of Japan took bronze.
(Reporting by Padraic Halpin and Patrick Johnston; editing by Michael Holden)
