SCOTLAND’S Sam Hickey had to settle for a Bronze medal at the Bocskai Tournament in Hungary after a split decision defeat in the Semi-Final.
The Dundee boxer came out on the wrong end of a very close decision in Debrecen against Turabek Khabibullaev of Uzbekistan in what was his first competition since stepping up to 80kg.
The Scot started the contest the stronger, landing a couple of nice straight right-hands against his southpaw opponent as he looked to edge the first round.
The Uzbekistan boxer started the second round brighter, although Hickey finished stronger and seemed unlucky that a straight right hand that sent Khabibullaev to the canvas was not scored as a knockdown.
But the former IBA World Youth champion did recover from that and looked to take the third round to make it tight on the cards.
“Tough one to take that,” Hickey said after the 4-1 split decision defeat.
The Commonwealth Games Middleweight champion has stepped up to Light-Heavyweight as he seeks to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympics, with Middleweight removed as a weight category by the IOC for those Games.
Hickey’s first opportunity to qualify will come at the European Games in Poland in June.
