Pat McCormack and his Great Britain colleagues, Peter McGrail and Ben Whittaker are likely to be fuelled by more than just talent and adrenaline in Friday’s World Championship semi-finals.
A strong dose of anger content may also be firing them up after the controversial events in Russia.
There should be FOUR England semi-finalists following super-heavyweight Frazer Clarke’s victory over Maxim Babanin in the quarter-finals.
However, GB Boxing’s medal haul at Ekaterinburg was reduced to three after the Russian Federation successfully appealed against the decision.
Clarke had won by three judges to two, but the review by the appeal jury overturned the verdict of the ringside judges and awarded the Russian the victory.
It reeks of a hometown decision and casts another dark shadow against the sport’s governing body, the Amateur International Boxing Association, especially given some of the controversial scoring in Rio for the 2016 Olympic Games.
All three English boxers are guaranteed medals whatever the result of the semi-finals which will be shown on the BBC Sport website, i-player and red button
McCormack comes up against Uzbekistan’s Bobo-Usmon Baturov in the last-four welterweight bout.
Pat, unbeaten since a very unfortunate defeat at the World Championships in Hamburg two years ago, has not had the smoothest of journeys to the semis in Russia.
The number two seed was a 3-2 winner in his ‘derby’ with Ireland’s Aidan Walsh in the last 32.
In a repeat of the Commonwealth Games final from last year, McCormack (pictured) won 29-28 on the cards of the Uzbek, Korean and Puerto Rican judges with the Aussie and Hungarian officials scoring it to Walsh.
His last 16 contest was mote straight-forward, as Pat outboxed Georgia’s Lasha Guruli for a unanimous verdict, 30-27 (x4) and 30-26,
The quarter-final proved another split decision against seventh seed Sewonretys Okazawa.
Russia’s judge gave all three rounds to the Birtley star, while the officials from Azerbaijan and Morocco marked it 29-28, with the Indian and Thai judges giving that score to the Japanese boxer.
Friday’s opponent, Baturov is the number three seed.
The first Brit in the ring in Ekaterinburg will be bantamweight ace McGrail, who must beat Cuba’s three-time world gold medallist Lázaro Álvarez Estrada.
Like Pat, sixth-seed Ben has Uzbek opposition in his light-heavy bout where he faces the unseeded but very dangerous Dilshodbek Ruzmetov.
Words: Roy Kelly Picture: Ian Horrocks
