For boxer Kenny Lally, it was like trying to hit a ghost.
It seemed every time he tried to nail Andy Cruz, the slick Cuban disappeared a wisp of smoke.
Cruz's dazzling magic act earned him a unanimous victory over his opponent from Prince George in their Pan Am Games semifinal bout and a ticket to the 56-kilogram gold medal match Friday in Oshawa. Ont.
"I couldn't find him,' said Lally. "I was trying to give the crowd something to cheer about but you've got to hit something.
"I went up against the best in the world and it was an honour. I learned more in this fight than I ever have in any other fight. To see something like that is absolutely incredible. I have so much respect for that guy and what he was able to do in there."
Judges scored the fight 30-27, 30-27, 29-28 for Cruz.
Cruz, who had a 5-0 record this year in the World Series of Boxing, was equally impressive in his opening bout against Carlos Dos Santos Rocha of Brazil. The 26-year-old Lally, a six-time national champion who earned a split decision Monday over Segunda Padilla of Ecuador, knew he'd have his hands full against Cruz.
"Those Cubans are veterans of over 300 fights -- they eat, sleep and breathe this and I can appreciate that so much," said Lally.
"He hit me with a few hard shots and it was just his timing. He hit me with his jab maybe a hundred times. I was sort of chuckling to myself with what he was doing. I was focused on what he was doing and he hit me with three punches and I didn't see them coming and I was like, 'how many people am I fighting right now?'
"The plan was to stay away from his jab and make it a boring fight by disrupting his rhythm and grab him any time we got close. But he would just tap my hand twice to find his range and then pop me. This guy was so incredibly intelligent. He's definitely the quickest fighter I've ever faced."
Lally's first round was his best. He got through to Cruz's face with a few glancing blows but none that hurt him. National team coach Daniel Trepanier told Lally between the first and second rounds he had to pick up the pace. Easier said than done.
Lally landed one chest shot on Cruz in the second round but after that Cruz used his quick feet to dance around the ring and his arm positioning swallowed Lally's body shot attempts.
"I hit him in the body a few times, that was the only place I could hit him but I only had maybe five clean head shots," said Lally. " I lost to the fighter of the tournament."
Cruz will fight Hector Garcia Mora of the Dominican Republic for the gold medal. Lally and Francisco Martinez of Texas, who lost a decision to Mora in the other semifinal, will each be awarded bronze medals Friday. Lally lost to Mora in May in a semifinal match at the Cheo Aponte Cup in Puerto Rico.
"Coming from small-town Prince George I've made an impact on this stage and gold was the colour I came for, but I'm happy," said Lally, whose mother Jas was among the crowd of about 4,000 Wednesday at General Motors Centre in Oshawa,
Lally will have close to three weeks off before he turns his attention too the Continental championships in Venezuela, a qualifying event for the 2016 Olympics in Rio De Janeiro.
"I want to thank everybody in Prince George for the amazing support on Facebook and people texting me, it drove me keep going," he said. "This isn't the end yet, I've still got a lot of fight left in me."
