Two bronze and now Pat’s going for gold
Wearside brothers Pat and Luke McCormack had contrasting fortunes in the Commonwealth Games’ boxing semi-finals.
Luke McCormack, from Washington, came out on the wrong end of a split points decision on Australia’s Gold Coast.
But the heavier McCormack, Pat, secured a comfortable welterweight semi-final victory.
Pat, 22, faced India’s Manoj Kumar in the final four and boxed a clever bout to win a unanimous points decision and progress to today’s final.
“It was a hard fight. I’ve beaten this lad before and I knew I had to give it everything,” said McCormack.
“From the first bell, he came out and gave it his all so all credit to him. He boxed a good fight, but I hit with the cleaner punches and was the smarter boxer.
“I could see his big lefts coming from miles away.
“He was putting everything into those shots and I think they tired him out a little bit, but I wasn’t taking any of them on the chin.
“I definitely wanted to get a win for my brother.
“He got beaten in a close fight today and I think he was a better boxer than that kid, but the kid kept coming and outworked him.”
Pat goes on to face Northern Ireland’s Aidan Walsh in the final and he knows to expect another tough fight, but is not expecting anything less than another victory.
“I’ve never faced the Northern Irish kid before, he’s only young,” he added.
“I think he’s just coming up so hopefully I’ll have the experience to beat him.”
England will take home nine boxing medals from the Commonwealth Games, including Luke McCormack’s bronze after he lost out to Namibia’s Jonas Jonas in the light welterweight final four.
Korean and Algerian judges both gave the fight to Luke, but three others favoured the Namibian and Pat said he had taken the defeat on the chin.
“There’s a good vibe in the flats. Everyone’s happy, just about everyone is winning so everyone’s on a bit of a high at the minute,” he concluded.
“It helps everyone when people are winning, it puts everyone in a good mood.
“But I spoke to Luke after his fight.
“He said he was gutted but ‘what can I do? It’s happened now, I’ve just got to learn from it’.”
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