Joe Ward can hold his head high.
The Moate fighter took the fight to Julio Cesar La Cruz in Thursday evening’s AIBA World Championship light-heavyweight final but a hard-nosed approach wasn’t enough for gold.
Ward had already lost a decision to La Cruz in 2013 so the odds were stacked against him from the beginning.
The opening three minutes were tightly contested as the Irish southpaw stormed forward at La Cruz but the Cuban landed the much cleaner shots, counter-punching at will.
La Cruz ran away with the second round as confidence oozed from his gloves and the uphill task became an insurmountable mountain when Ward found himself two rounds down on the judges’ scorecards.
Ward was the aggressor in the final round as he winged shots to the body but he couldn’t seem to find the chin of La Cruz who displayed stellar head movement throughout.
Cruz, the AIBA 2015 Boxer of the Year, sustained a nasty looking cut over his right eye due to a clash of heads but it wasn’t deep enough to warrant anything close to a stoppage.
There was a wild exchange in the dying moments as both fighters bit down on their gumshields and swung for the fences but the bout had already been won and it was another gold for La Cruz while Ward had to be content with second best on the day.
Cuban so good. But what a brilliant performance from Joe Ward&an amazing wk for him securing Olympic qualification and bringing home silver.
— Katie Taylor (@KatieTaylor) October 15, 2015
Upmost respect for Joe Ward this evening. 1st time I saw La Cruz I said he was special. Joe made perform & we couldn't ask for more#Olympian
— Darren O'Neill OLY (@DarrenONeillOLY) October 15, 2015
