Kenny Lally thought he had his second win at the IABA American Olympic boxing qualifier in the bag.
The judges at ringside in Buenos Aries, Argentina, through otherwise.
They ruled Jose Diaz Azocar of Venezuela did enough with his fists to score a unanimous victory over Lally Tuesday afternoon in their three-round 56-kilogram quarterfinal round bout.
That dealt a serious blow to the 25-year-old Lally and his attempts to make the grade to fight for Canada at the Olympics this August in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
"It was unbelievable," said Lally. "Even when they raised his hand (Diaz Azocar) was in shock."
The fight was even in the first round but Lally figures he did enough to win the second and third rounds. Midway through the second round, he and Diaz Azocar butted heads. The contact left Lally with a two-inch gash on his forehead, while his opponent suffered a cut above his right eye.
"He was a better boxer than the first guy and he came at me but I handled it well," said Lally. "My coach (Daniel Trepanier) told me to put a little more pressure on him and that's what I did. I got cut... but I didn't let that stop me, I just kept going. Right at the end of the second round I hit him with two right hands and in the third round I went right back at him.
"I clearly won the fight. I landed the cleaner shots and I controlled what was happening. This is definitely a tough loss. It's not a good feeling."
There is one last-chance qualifier for Lally in June. Five bantamweight spots will be up for grabs at a tournament in Baku, Azerbaijan. If he goes there, he said he'll have to train the month before in Montreal, where the national team is based and he gets better sparring without the distractions of his life in Prince George. Lally spent six week in Montreal to get ready for the this week's tournament in Argentina.
"I'm going to go back home and talk to my parents and my girlfriend and most likely I'll have to go back to Montreal," Lally said. "This is the best I've ever been, I've never felt this good. I should be going on to the next round."
