Jitender Kumar claims silver

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 20: India8217;s Jitender Kumar was outclassed by a much superior boxer John Pearce of England, who probably had his toughest fight in the semi-finals against Brian Magee of Northern Ireland, in the middleweight boxing final at the Commonwealth Games this evening.

Pearce opened out with a barrage of punches to the Indian8217;s body and ran up a 6-1 advantage over points. Jitender realising he was fighting a boxer way above him in quality wisely decided not to go wild and defend properly.

Jitender8217;s best moment came in the first minute of the third round when he came as close as 7-9 in points. But after that Pearce just scored at will. By the time the fight ended after five rounds, Pearce had built up a 25-11 lead and ended whatever little hopes Jitender might have had of becoming India8217;s first ever Commonwealth games boxing champion.