David Oliver Joyce was well worth the 16-3 defeat of Joe Murray in the European Amateur Championships in Liverpool on Sunday - that's according to his coach Dominic O'Rourke.

The Irishman outclassed his opponent, despite going over in the first round due to a slip, and Murray did not score an actual point until the final round, with two of his three points going in his favour because Joyce was penalised for a low blow.

And O'Rourke was delighted with his man afterwards. He said: "Joe might have got a few points from body shots but the result was fair. Joe suited him coming on like he did and David boxed very well.

He added: "David got a warning for a low blow in the last round and Joe could have stayed down and got David disqualified, but Joe showed his sportsmanship by getting up and going on, so I have no bad word to say about him."

Murray was left inconsolable after what he thought were some bad point scoring decisions, he said: "The kid looks worse than me. He got a cut on his nose and took so many body shots. But if the judges don't like you they don't like you.

"It was my dream to go to the Olympics then to come back and fight in my home country and move up a weight to prove I had what it takes. If I'd won I'd have fought the Olympic champion next and that's what I wanted.

"But it was as if there was a different scoring system for him. He started banging to the body and was scoring points straight away. I really didn't expect this in my home country but it's just what amateur boxing is."