LONDON (Reuters) – After friends and neighbors in Cleveland raised over $8,000 to fly his mother and sister to London and pay for their stay, there was no way Terrell Gausha was going to let them down when he took to the Olympic ring for the first time on Saturday.

The 24-year-old middleweight didn’t disappoint but he left it mighty close.

LONDON, July 28 (Reuters) – After friends and neighbours in
Cleveland raised over $8,000 to fly his mother and sister to
London and pay for their stay, there was no way Terrell Gausha
was going to let them down when he took to the Olympic ring for
the first time on Saturday.

The 24-year-old middleweight didn’t disappoint but he left
it mighty close.

LONDON (Reuters) – The pressure of being the first host nation boxer to fight at the 2012 Olympics was nothing compared to the trials Britain’s Anthony Ogogo had to go through just to make it to the ring on Saturday.

The 23-year-old middleweight, whose hopes of making it to his first Olympics were nearly ruined by a serious shoulder injury last year, has had to spend much of the last six weeks by his mother Teresa’s bedside after she suffered a brain hemorrhage.

LONDON, July 28 (Reuters) – The pressure of being the first
host nation boxer to fight at the 2012 Olympics was nothing
compared to the trials Britain’s Anthony Ogogo had to go through
just to make it to the ring on Saturday.

The 23-year-old middleweight, whose hopes of making it to
his first Olympics were nearly ruined by a serious shoulder
injury last year, has had to spend much of the last six weeks by
his mother Teresa’s bedside after she suffered a brain
haemorrhage.

LONDON (Reuters) – Olympic boxing’s governing body hopes more women will box at the Games in four years time and will press the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to increase its quota of competitors to help achieve that goal, its top official said on Saturday.

Women’s boxing, rejected in the past because of a limited global appeal that saw them only sanctioned to box in Britain 15 years ago, will make its Olympic debut in London with three gold medals at stake.

LONDON, July 28 (Reuters) – Olympic boxing’s governing body
hopes more women will box at the Games in four years time and
will press the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to increase
its quota of competitors to help achieve that goal, its top
official said on Saturday.

Women’s boxing, rejected in the past because of a limited
global appeal that saw them only sanctioned to box in Britain 15
years ago, will make its Olympic debut in London with three gold
medals at stake.

LONDON (Reuters) – When American Joseph Diaz was told who his first Olympic opponent would be after Friday’s draw, he swapped the gym for his laptop and went straight to YouTube to take a first look at what he would be up against.

The homework paid off when Diaz, the youngest member of the U.S. boxing squad at 19, won the opening fight of the London games, beating Ukrainian bantamweight Pavlo Ishchenko 19-9 with more than half the points coming in a blizzard of third round left-hand shots.

LONDON, July 28 (Reuters) – When American Joseph Diaz was
told who his first Olympic opponent would be after Friday’s
draw, he swapped the gym for his laptop and went straight to
YouTube to take a first look at what he would be up against.

The homework paid off when Diaz, the youngest member of the
U.S. boxing squad at 19, won the opening fight of the London
games, beating Ukrainian bantamweight Pavlo Ishchenko 19-9 with
more than half the points coming in a blizzard of third round
left-hand shots.

DUBLIN (Reuters) – Dire retail sales figures and another big loss at state-owned Allied Irish Banks highlighted the difficulties Ireland still faces despite selling new long-term government bonds for the first time since 2010.

Ireland took a major step towards exiting its EU/IMF bailout on Thursday and sparked a rare glimmer of hope in the euro zone debt crisis when it raised 4.2 billion euros of debt and switched 1 billion euros of bonds maturing over the next two years to longer-dated issues.

DUBLIN, July 27 (Reuters) – State-owned Allied Irish Banks
recorded a loss of 1.1 billion euros for the six months
to June, highlighting the difficulties Ireland still faces
despite selling new long-term government bonds for the first
time since 2010.

Ireland took a major step towards exiting its EU/IMF bailout
on Thursday and sparked a rare glimmer of hope in the euro zone
debt crisis when it raised 4.2 billion euros of fresh debt and
switched 1 billion euros of bonds maturing over the next two
years to longer-dated issues.