Boxing: Bronzes best NZ can do

MANCHESTER - New Zealand endured an unhappy night in the Commonwealth Games boxing ring as both their gold medal hopefuls succumbed to heavy semifinal losses and will have to settle for bronze medals.

Main hope, heavyweight Shane Cameron, was outclassed by Canada's Jason Douglas, following a convincing points loss for welterweight Daniel Codling at the quick hands of Australian Daniel Geale.

Cameron was never in the fight against his fast, counterpunching opponent, and the referee was forced to stop the contest 43 seconds into the second round after the Feilding fighter had fallen behind on points.

Douglas was warned twice for low blows and Cameron landed some decent jabs of his own but Douglas was far more effective with his counter-punching.

The computer scoring system showed Douglas led by a massive 16-4 after the first round and he quickly increased it.

However, Cameron expressed surprise and shock at the result, believing the one-sided scoring did not reflect the fight.

"I don't know what went on with the scoring there.

"He (Douglas) must have been scoring with everything he threw at me, even those low blows.

"I didn't think he was catching me with that many shots but obviously he was."

Cameron knew he was down after the first round but not by much.

"I was very shocked and I think the other boy was shocked too, because I was catching him with some good shots.

"I can't have been scoring with them. I'd like to see the fight again to actually see how they were scoring it."

The 24-year-old had looked impressive in his opening wins, prompting hope he could be New Zealand's first Games boxing gold medallist since super heavyweight Michael Kenny at Auckland in 1990.

He opened his campaign with a second-round stoppage of Nigerian Solomon Ataga and easily out-pointed Jamaican Kerron Speid on Tuesday.

"I'm disappointed but at the end of the day I've got a medal I suppose. A different colour would have been better but never mind."

Men's flyweight (Up to 51kg) Semi-finals:

Lechedzani Luza (Bot) bt Nzimeni Msutu (Rsa) pts 34-23, Kennedy Kanyanta (Zam) bt Sebastien Gauthier (Can) pts 34-26

Men's Featherweight (Up to 57kg) Semi-finals:

Som Bahadur Pun (Ind) bt Veikko Josua (Nam) rsf 3rd rd, Haider Ali (Pak) bt Benoit Gaudet (Can) pts 16-7

Men's Light Welterweight (Up to 63.5kg) Semi-finals:

Mohammed Kayongo (Uga) bt Davies Mwale (Zam) pts 28-22, Darren Barker (Eng) bt Davidson Emenogu (Ngr) walkover

Men's Light Middleweight (Up to 71kg) Semi-final:

Jean Thenistor Pascal (Can) bt Junior Sylvest Greenidge (Bar) rsf 2nd rd, Paul Smith (Eng) bt Craig Mcewan (Sco) pts 20-19

Men's Light Heavyweight (Up to 81kg) Semi-finals:

Joseph Lubega (Uga) bt Ben Mceachran (Aus) rsf 2nd rd, Jegbefumere Bone Albert (Ngr) bt Daniel Jan Venter (Rsa) pts 30-18

Men's Super Heavyweight (Over 91kg) Semi-final:

David Cadieux (Can) bt Gozie Dijeh (Ngr) 33-19, David Dolan (Eng) bt Kevin Llewwllyn Evans (Wal) rsf 1st rd

Men's Light Flyweight (Up to 48kg) Semifinal:

Darran Langley (Eng) bt Zamzai Mohamad (Mas) pts 19-18, Ali Qamar (Ind) bt Taoreed Ajagbe (Ngr) pts 27-13

Men's Bantamweight (Up to 54kg) Semi-final:

Justin Kane (Aus) bt Mark Moran (Eng) pts 26-24, Andrew Singh Kooner (Can) bt Ezekiel Letuka (Les) pts 37-29

Men's Lightweight (Up to 60kg) Semi-final:

Dennis Zimba (Zam) bt Andrew Morris (Eng) pts 26-22, Jamie Arthur (Wal) bt Gilbert Khunwane (Bot) pts 31-28

Men's Welterweight (Up to 67kg) Semifinal:

Daniel Geale (Aus) bt DANIEL CODLING (NZL) pts 27-13, Kwanele Zulu (Rsa) bt Ali Nuumbembe (Nam) pts 39-30

Men's Middleweight (Up to 75kg) Semifinal:

Steven Birch (Eng) bt Jitender Kumar (Ind) pts 32-23, Paul Miller (Aus) bt Michael Walchuk (Can) pts +25-25

Men's Heavyweight (Up to 91kg) Semifinal:

Kertson Manswell (Tri) bt Andrew Young (Sco) pts 20-6, Jason Douglas (Can) bt SHANE CAMERON (NZL) rsf 2nd rd

- NZPA

Full coverage:
nzherald.co.nz/manchester2002

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