Boxer Richárd Kovács lost his quarterfinal, finishing in fifth place

Richárd Kovács said goodbye in the quarterfinals.

On Monday, the 26-year-old two-time European champion bronze medalist from Nyíregyháza defeated Australian Harry Garside, a bronze medalist in a weight group lower, by majority score at the Tokyo Games, and on Thursday he had to enter the ring against perhaps the best light heavyweight boxer in the field, the three-time world champion and Olympic silver medalist Sofiane Oumiha of France. , not under any circumstances.

Before the 27-year-old boxer, the last time a Hungarian boxer finished in the points-scoring position at the London Games was Zoltán Harcsa.

The stands of the North Paris Arena, located in hall 8 of the fair near Charles de Gaulle Airport, were packed to the brim for the match, during which Richárd Kovács received a huge ovation, while Oumiha received a deafening ovation. In the terrifying atmosphere, one of the questions was how the Hungarian boxer could handle the atmosphere.

The Hungarian athlete, who works as a teacher of physical education and history, did not seem out of place, but in the first round he was apparently very cautious. Kovács likes to build on counters from defense and let the Frenchman attack, but at the same time, the nice sustaining punches seen in the first match did not come this time. Oumiha didn’t hit much either, but when he started, he was accurate and dominated the match, and the scorers saw that as well.

Knowing his disadvantage, Richárd Kovács switched to the second stage and he went forward, bravely guiding the Frenchman, with whom he fought a particularly enjoyable battle. At that time, the Hungarian boxer was hitting significantly more and had some nice hits, but at the same time, Oumiha proved that he is also excellent in counter boxing. The Frenchman was wildly cheered by the domestic spectators, each of his moves caused a real explosion of sound in the hall, even if he did not hit his rival. The judges again unanimously awarded him the second stage, giving him an almost unassailable advantage.

In the third three minutes, Richárd Kovács could practically only turn the ball around with a knockout and went forward inappropriately, taking on the open fight, in which he had very good periods. The boxer from Nyírság did not give up the fight for a moment, he gave and received during the process and produced an excellent match. Almost six thousand French cheerleaders were jumping non-stop in the stands, and Oumiha “thanked” them for their persistent encouragement with a unanimous scoring success.

Richárd Kovács was visibly disappointed with the defeat, but at the same time he showed a feat by finishing in fifth place, because the last time he finished in the points-scoring position at the London Games was a Hungarian boxer, Zoltán Harcsa, who was fifth.

I’m disappointed because I was confident of winning and went into the ring anyway

Kovács told Hungarian journalists after the match. – “I tried to shut out the spectators and didn’t deal with the frenzy that greeted me. It was a little unpleasant that they went crazy even when my opponent touched me a little or didn’t hit me at all, and with that I think the judges were influenced a little. At the same time, I feel that everything I did it, but Oumiha is a three-time world champion and Olympic silver medalist, and it was better now.”

Analyzing Kovács’s match a bit, he revealed that in the first round he tried to counterbox from the outside, but it didn’t work because Oumiha was very fast and didn’t hit him.

“After that I tried to put pressure on him and from the second I feel that it went much better, I had a lot of hits, but it cannot be disputed that the Frenchman is very skillful”, commented Richárd Kovács, who said that he was sad mainly because he was very he wanted to bring a medal to his little son, but he can be a little happy that he finished in a point-scoring place in his first Olympics.

At the same time, there will be another Hungarian scorer in Paris, as Luca Hámori (66 kg) reached the quarterfinals earlier on Thursday.