Why Murray’s mint
Aug 15 2008 By Stuart Rayner, The Journal
Tony Jeffries got his Beijing campaign off to a winning start after his thrilling countback win over Colombian Eleider Alvarez. The Sunderland light-heavyweight is now one victory from an Olympic medal. In part five of our series, "Jaffa" tells us about his confusion at the end of the bout and the latest famous tennis star he's been rubbing shoulders with.
FIGHT fans from across the North East were camped in front of their television screens on Tuesday morning to watch Tony Jeffries reach the quarter-finals of the 2008 Olympic light-heavyweight boxing tournament.
But the man from Sunderland also had a famous British sports personality shouting for him from the stands.
Andy Murray has had a miserable Olympics, going out early in the singles and doubles tennis competitions, but the British number one joined Jeffries’ fan club for his second-round match after a chance meeting with the boxer.
That, says Jeffries, sums up the spirit within Team GB.
“I was talking to Andy Murray when I was having a massage in the Olympic Village before my fight,” he explained.
“I was there lying on the bed and he was on the bed next to me. I’d never met him before but I asked him if he wanted to come along and watch the boxing, and he did. I got the bus back with him afterwards and he was a really good lad.
“It just shows there’s a really good team spirit in the Great Britain camp. We’re all getting behind each other, because we’re all fighting for Great Britain in our different sports. It’s the same with lads from some of the other sports, like cycling and archery. They’re all from completely different backgrounds to the boxing team – they’re posh and we’re not! – but they’re still really friendly and we make sure we all get behind each other.”
Jeffries drew 5-5 with Eleider Alvarez in his opening fight but won on “countback” – a new experience for him.
Points are scored when three judges hit their buttons immediately after landing a punch and when scores finish level the points awarded by two or less judges are totted up.
“It was a bit of a cagey start because I’d heard a lot about his power,” Jeffries admitted. “We were trying to suss each other out and it was 0-0 at the end of the first round. I wasn’t totally happy with my performance but all that matters is I’m in the next round.
“I didn’t know countback was how they decided it until I heard Terry Edwards (Great Britain’s head coach) shout over from my corner after the fight. As the head judge raised his blue paddle to say I’d won, I was looking over to Terry and he said, ‘You’ve got it’. I knew just before the judge raised my hand. It was the first time I’d ever won a fight on countback.”
Jeffries had been leading 5-4 with 17 seconds left, only for the Columbian to land a scoring shot and set up a nerve-racking finale.
“I was worried when he landed that late punch on me,” he said. “It was just a massive relief and a great feeling to win. I’d landed a few punches in the first two rounds that didn’t score and I think that might have helped me in the countback.
“I’ve had a chill-out day today and tomorrow (Saturday) I’m going to have two more training sessions. Sunday will be an easy day, then Monday a day off before I fight Imre Szello from Hungary on Tuesday evening Beijing time.”
