Golden Boy: Edward Harty wins GOLD at European Juniors
Edward Harty blasted his way to European gold in Sarajevo.
The Portlaoise BC man overcame Aremenia’s Aleks Petrosyan in Sunday’s European Junior light-welterweight final.
Harty’s win earns Ireland’s 18th European Junior gold of all time.
Harty took the decision via a split decison with cards of 30-27×3, 29-28, 28-29 in his favour. A Russian judge bizarrely scored the bout in favour of the Armenian. He gave the nod to Petrosyan in each of the opening two rounds, going a different way to his four colleagues each time.
Harty came on strong in the last 20 secponds of the opening round, after a brief halt to the contest when Petrosyan’s headgear went amiss.
Harty, in the southpaw stance, landed a good left hand in a game of few punches early on.
Harty hit hard to finish the first round with a flourish.
Early in the second, Harty caught the eye – and the buzzer of Petrosyan in the process – with a stylish combination to put Petrosyan firmly on the back foot.
The Irish puncher, out of the blue corner, was content to stay out of trouble during the final two minutes.
It was a contest that became scrappy at times, but not to trouble Harty, who tops the pile at the Hotel Hills in Bosnia & Herzegovina.
On Friday, Harty defeated Darius Sorin Stegari of Romania in his semi-final, taking a 4-1 split decision.
Harty was narrowly in front after the first and upped the ante considerably in the second to move into a position of real command, allowing him to hold Stegari at bay in the final verse.
Harty secured a medal when defeating Greece’s Angelos Pangiotis Kalamaris in their quarter-final clash.
