Delicious Orie won the super heavyweight gold medal for England in the final match of the Commonwealth Games boxing tournament in his hometown of Birmingham on Sunday.
Orie showed his skill in the first round, landing long-distance jabs on India’s Sagar Ahlawat.
But when the Indian southpaw’s aggressive rush to end the session clinched the first round for all five judges, Orie had to change his tack quickly.
He did that under pressure. In the second round, he stepped on the front foot and delivered crushing right uppercuts to Ahlawat’s chin. The Indian grabbed him in clinches and sent a heavy thrust below the belt. But going into the third and final round, Orie had tied the scores.
Orie is the Commonwealth Games Super Heavyweight Champion
For the Russian-born GB boxer, it came down to a matter of heart in that final round. Orie stepped in and waved hard hooks. He forced the fight his way when Ahlawat suffered a severe cut over his left eye and the home crowd roared Orie.
He swept the final round for all five judges to win a unanimous decision.
Orie grabbed the announcer’s microphone to address the crowd in the arena.
“It is possible to achieve what you want to achieve. I started boxing at the age of 19. I represented Team England at the age of 25 and I just won a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games. It is possible, get on it out and achieve what you want to achieve,” he said with a huge ovation.
Another local boxer, Lewis Williams of Leamington, also won boxing gold, beating Ato Leau Plodzicki-Faogali of Samoa by unanimous decision in the 92kg final.
England teammates Demie-Jade Resztan and Kiaran MacDonald had to settle for silver and lost to Indian pair Nitu Ghanghas and Amit Panghal respectively. Lightweight Gemma Richardson joined them as an English silver medalist when she lost a unanimous points judgment to Northern Ireland’s Amy Broadhurst.
Orie had a message of inspiration for the public in his hometown.
Scottish boxing history was made when their team won three gold medals at the same Commonwealth Games for the first time.
Middleweight Sam Hickey was their star performer. After stopping England’s Lewis Richardson in the semi-final, a spectacular result, he defeated outstanding Australian Callum Peters by split decision in the 75kg final.
“Believe in yourself and actually go in the ring and do something is different,” Hickey said.
“You have to be able to do a little bit of everything. I showed in this tournament that I can box, I can fight, I can punch a little, I have a great future and I look forward to showing what I can do in the coming years .”
Sean Lazzerini defeated Welsh talent Taylor Bevan to win light heavyweight gold for Scotland. Light-welterweight Reese Lynch won their team’s third gold medal when he squeezed Mauritius’ Louis Collin out by split decision.
Lynch endured a cut on the final round to beat the verdict his way.
“I’ve said from the start that we can do brilliant things and that put a bit of pressure on me after seeing both my teammates go out and take gold,” said Lynch, a member of the GB squad that won a World Cup. medal in 2021.
“We’ve been together for so long and I’ve always known we could reach these kinds of levels. I’m so proud to be part of such a record-breaking team.
“Now my focus is shifting to the Olympics and replenishing my medal collection.”
Eccles swears ‘boxing curse’
Four years of bad luck melted away for Rosie Eccles when the 26-year-old from Pontypool stopped an emphatic second round from Australia’s Kaye Scott to claim gold in the women’s light-middleweight division.
Eccles had endured a controversial split-decision defeat to England’s Sandy Ryan in the Gold Coast final four years ago, then missed a place at the Tokyo Olympics when her body was attacked by a mysterious virus and gave her a second. opportunity was denied by the corona pandemic.
“I’ve always been a very optimistic person, but even I started to think I had a bit of a boxing curse,” Eccles said. “I started to think it just wasn’t going to happen.
“Things kept falling out of the blue – I got into qualifying first and was attacked by a virus, then I was denied the chance to go to Tokyo. To go through all this and win gold is just amazing. “
Eccles forced Scott, a former world medalist, to do a standing count in the opening round and stepped up the pressure in the second, taking two more counts that convinced the referee to intervene and stop the match.
“I think I can get my silver medal out of the box now,” Eccles added. “I kept it there for four years, even when I visit schools, but now I can say that I will take it out because it is part of my story, and I can look at it with pride.”
Rosie Eccles celebrates her gold medal win
The win was all the more impressive for Eccles, who is small for a light-middleweight, and will benefit more from the equivalent category at the Paris Olympics, where the weight limit is four kilograms lighter.
“Paris is definitely the target now and I will be more powerful with the lighter weight,” Eccles added. “I’ve always been very humble, but I think my time has come. You haven’t seen the best of me yet.”
Ioan Croft won another gold medal for Wales when he defeated Zambia’s Stephen Zimba in the welterweight final.
Northern Ireland also had a strong return from these Games with five gold medal winners.
Brother and sister Aidan and Michaela Walsh won the Light Middleweight and Featherweight categories respectively. In addition to Broadhurst’s win, their teammates Dylan Eagleson and Jude Gallagher both also won gold.
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