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DAY ONE
THERE was a shock exit on the opening day for super-heavyweight Delicious Orie. Orie, who booked his place at the Olympics by winning the European Games last year, was edged out on a 3-2 split by German Nelvie Tiafack.
The strong Tiafack, a sparring partner for Anthony Joshua last year, had come out on top when they met in the last four of the 2022 European Championships on his way to gold.
He won the opening round in Sheffield on all five scorecards, despite Orie landing several clean jabs. The wide, heavy swings of the German impressed the judges, leaving Orie with it all to do in the last six minutes.
Performance of the day came from English teenager Lauren Mackie when she was chucked in deep on her senior debut, against Denmark’s Melissa Mortensen, silver medallist at the first World Boxing Cup. Mackie, who celebrated her 18th birthday on Christmas Day, won a hard-fought 4-1 split at 54kgs.
Both were straight down to business, swapping combinations in the centre of the ring. Mackie started to land her left hook midway through the opener and found the target with an eye-catching left-right-left hook early in the second that jolted the Dane. Mackie kept landing the cleaner shots in the second and throughout the last when Moretensen tried to rally. The World Boxing Cup got underway with a match between English featherweights and , Glynn winning a 3-2 split. After a close opener,
