ENGLAND’S Kiaran MacDonald secured Great Britain’s first and only victory on the opening day of action at the Boxing Road to Paris world qualifier in Busto Arsizio, Italy.
Facing Hungary’s Istvan Szaka, MacDonald recovered well from losing the opening round unanimously to secure a 3:2 split decision in his favour in what was a scrappy affair.
The featherweight will now face Trinidad and Tobago’s Al Jaleel Ortega Jokhu in the round of 32 on Wednesday 6th March at approximately 19:15pm.
MacDonald said: “I’m a bit of a perfectionist so I’ll be a bit critical on myself. It took me a while to get going but when I did, I took over.
“He just wanted to make it into a dog fight and in the end, it became not much of a boxing match. I managed to tag him in the second round and give him a standing count and from then on, I knew I could hurt him.
“I wanted to get in there and get the ball rolling for the rest of the squad. We’ve got a great team out here; I think everyone can go out there and get their ticket to Paris. We all just need to remember to relax and enjoy it when we’re in there.
“But for me, I’m slightly disappointed with my performance. I don’t want to be one that says your first is always your worst as everybody says that, but nevertheless we move on, and the goal is still the same – Olympic qualification.”
Both Welsh members of the GB Boxing squad will compete on the second day of action in Busto Arsizio.
Up first is Owain Harris-Allan, who will take on Dominican Republic’s Jose Luis De Lo Santos at 20:00pm UK time in the featherweight contest.
At light-heavyweight, Taylor Bevan will then conclude the day’s action for Great Britain when he takes on Pylyp Akilov at 21:30pm.
