Aqeel loses out in battle of Brits
Motherwell boxer Aqeel Ahmed suffered defeat at the World Boxing Championships in Hamburg.
The 23-year-old lost out to English fighter Galal Yafai who also knocked him out of the European Boxing Championships back in June.
Aqeel has sparred with the fellow Brit at Team GB trials on various occasions and the duo are no stranger to one another.
However, despite a gutsy performance from the Keir Hardie ABC amateur he lost out on unanimous decision to the 24-year-old.
After being beat by Yafai in June in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Aqeel believes his performance was much improved.
He said:“Personally, I though I done a lot better than I did in Kharkiv.
“I can be proud of my performance because he’s a top level fighter and one of the best in the division.
“I’m disappointed because I really wanted to win but that’s what happens when you come up against the best.
“Hopefully I can improve on it, come back stronger and close the gap even further.
“He’s not a guy I’d want to draw and I thought‘I’ve drew him out of 24 boxers!’
“This is the beauty of amateur boxing though and I just had to prepare myself and he’s the toughest opponent you could get who was unseeded.”
Yafai added:“It was a closer fight than we had in Ukraine and he can hold his head high.”