Olympic Boxing: Team Great Britain Reduced As Murray Loses In Beijing

Billy Joe and Bradley Sauders move into second round of competition

After a fantastic 3 out of 3 for British boxers in Beijing, sadly, the team suffered itʼs first defeat yesterday when bantamweight Joe Murray lost out to Yu Gu of China.

Murray - brother of John, recently crowned British Lightweight Champion, had a tough four rounds against the home-boy. It was a messy contest from the start with both boxers being told to ʽclean it upʼ.

When Murray ended round one being 3-0 down, I hoped it was just a case of ʽnot settling inʼ yet. But, the Chinese fighter continued to notch up the points. It wasnʼt great boxing by Murray, but the scoring system didnʼt help matters as Murray could be seen landing shots that werenʼt counted.

The controversial points win of 17-7 gave Gu a second-round place and a disappointed Murray goes out of the competition.

Previously, middleweight James DeGale secured the first win for the Great Britain Team on Saturday followed by team-mates welterweight Billy Joe Saunders and light welterweight Bradley Saunders.

Billy Joe gave a fantastic display of boxing when he faced World Bronze Medallist Adem Kilicci, of Turkey. Winning every round - Saunders was impressive, whipping out the right then the left - moving quickly out of the way when his Turkish opponent threw a punch.

A very polished performance from the youngest of the team who won by 14-3, Saunders will now face Cuban - Carlos Banteaux Suarez on Thursday.

Light welterweight Bradley Saunders made light work of his opponent - knocking out Samuel Kotey Neequaye of Ghana mid-way through round one!

Saunders will now face Frenchman Alexis Vastine on Thursday.