SOMETIMES all bets are off when you go into the belly of the beast.
At North Paris Arena on Sunday morning, Aidan Walsh faced a fervent home crowd as well as French favourite Makan Traore - his Olympic hopes ended before they had truly begun after a rollercoaster ride since landing bronze in Tokyo ended in an unlikely return to the sport’s greatest stage.
He could be looking forward to a showdown with fourth seed Nikolai Terteryan on Wednesday. The Irish coaches believe he should after the judges saw a razor close second round in favour of Traore, even though Walsh looked to have landed the only meaningful shots.
But a heightened sensitivity to his elusive style, particularly prevalent during recent months, proved costly once more. Official warnings came his way when bowing out of the first World Olympic qualifier in Milan, then another in defeat to Jordan’s Zeyad Eashash in Bangkok before the back roads eventually brought him to Paris.
It proved decisive again. Both boxers were cautioned for not engaging in a cagey first round, with just Walsh cautioned for the same in the second.
With the bout sitting at a round apiece going into the last, an early official warning for holding all but ended Walsh’s chances of going any further, Traore piling on the pressure as a rendition of La Marseillaise marked his triumph.
“Usually when you win the first round clear you win the second round if you keep doing what you are doing.
“I know I got a warning for holding - it has been a thing over the last few months, but I have been doing that all my career, hitting and holding. It just seems to be over the past few months that they seem to be dampening down on it a wee bit.
“You usually get away with three or four warnings before you get a proper warning… I probably have outdone my luck in my career at this stage, and the luck wasn’t on my side today.”
Head coach Zaur Antia, however, was less diplomatic.
Walsh was booed into the 5,000 capacity arena after Traore had arrived to huge cheers. Every shot the Frenchman threw, whether landing or not, was greeted with a roar from the partisan crowd.
Those factors, the frustrated Georgian felt, could have influenced the judges’ thinking after Walsh claimed the first round on all five cards.
“The first round we win 5-0, then second round the referee did something… stopped both, asked for more activity. Aidan was more active than that boy, but Aidan was active on back foot. This is tactics.
“And then he stopped and told Aidan ‘don’t go back, change your tactics’. If you remember, when first round finished, crowd oohed, the voices, everything, all factors. In my opinion, second round Aidan won, but Aidan says the referee told him ‘stop going back’, his plan changed in his head.”
“It’s a strange game this, sometimes,” added Irish coach Damian Kennedy, “he’s punched perfectly in the first round, executed the plan to perfection, and I couldn’t see 4-1 in the second round.
“I thought Aidan won the second round as well.”
For now, though, this part of Walsh’s journey is over.
From retirement this time last year, finished with the fight game altogether, it was a huge achievement for the west Belfast man to even reach Paris.
Outside of winning 2022 Commonwealth Games gold in Birmingham, Walsh has been a peripheral figure on the Irish boxing scene, a bigger fight outside the ring leaving him out of the running for so long.
Recent weeks have seen him speak about his mental health issues and anxiety, falling out of love with the sport after reaching the Olympic podium three years ago. Now, his own happiness means more than any medal ever could.
“I am incredibly grateful to be here, and I mean that,” said the 27-year-old, whose sister Michaela will join him as a two-time Olympian on Friday.
“I have said that the whole time coming out here – my aim isn’t to medal, my aim is to enjoy the process and I have enjoyed the first week of the Olympic village far more than the last journey through the last Olympics in Tokyo.
“It is an absolute privilege to be here… there is no disappointment really. This sport has brought me to my knees a number of times and the main thing is that I have stood up again. Regardless of what happens in my life, I have stood up again.
“A few years ago I just wasn’t happy, I really wasn’t. Now I’m happy and boxing is making me happy. For me to get here was so tough, everybody knows that.
“My journey has always been up, down, up down whereas Michaela’s career has always been steady,” he said, before smiling, “maybe I’ll take a few years out and try and come back for LA…”
RUNNING ORDER
Sunday, July 28
66kg last 32: G Walsh v A Hamori (Hungary) – 4.22pm
92kg last 16: J Marley v M Bereznicki (Poland) – 7.32pm
Monday, July 29
60kg last 16: K Harrington v A Mesiano (Italy) – 1.46pm
Tuesday, July 30
54kg last 16: J Lehane v Y Chang (China) – 10.36am
Wednesday, July 31
57kg last 32: J Gallagher v C Paalam (Phillipines) – 1.30pm
75kg last 16: A O’Rourke v E Wojcik (Poland) – 7.52pm
Thursday, August 1
51kg last 16: D Moorehouse v W Lkhadiri (France) – 6pm
Friday, August 2
57kg last 16: M Walsh v SK Staneva (Bulgaria) – 1.46pm
