Josh Taylor competed in the first of five all-British bouts at the Talkatora Indoor Stadium against England’s Tom Stalker The first round ended 2-2 following some exciting boxing. Josh boxed bravely however Stalker’s experience eventually began to show and he ended up winning 11-3. Josh could not hide his disappointment but this was still an incredible effort by the young Lochend ABC boxer who has showed he will be more than in contention for a gold in Glasgow 2014. Congratulations to Josh on winning the silver medal in the 60kg weight category.
Callum Johnson lined up against Northern Ireland’s Thomas McCarthy from Belfast in the 81 kg category approximately half an hour later. The first round was an extremely cagey affair with no scoring punches recorded, although Callum did manage to bloody McCarthy’s nose. There were a number of punches that Callum appeared to score that the judges missed.
Callum, a little bit smaller than McCarthy at five foot seven, displayed great strength in opening up a devastating 6-0 lead in the second round with McCarthy visibly tiring. McCarthy managed to claw a scrappy point back but at this stage the gold appeared to be in the bag for Callum.
With the work done in the second round Callum managed to score another two hard hitting punches to end up a very convincing 8-1 winner. A brilliant end for the Scottish team with a Gold for the team captain.
The performance of the team in Delhi has not been equalled since the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, Canada. A huge congratulations must go to all the boxers and coaches who have put Scottish Amateur Boxing firmly back on the international map.
