Its 25 years since Michael Carruth’s golden moment at the Barcelona Olympics.
Where were you on the August 8, 1992?
It was one of those moments you knew at the time you’d remember forevermore with the legendary Jimmy Magee from RTE on commentary .
Carruth beat Maselino Tuifao, Andreas Otto and Arkon Chenglai en route to his showdown with Hernández-Sierra.
“I was David, he was Goliath. All the pressure was on him,” Carruth recalled. “I remember thinking, ‘Sweet Jesus, the size of this fella’. It was going to be a clash of who had the fastest right hook – and I did.”
Carruth edged the opening round 4-3 but dropped points after receiving a harsh public warning for holding in the second, leaving the scores locked at 8-8 going into the final frame.
Hernández-Sierra’s corner had given their man an earful during the interval and he came out with all guns blazing, but Carruth continued to detonate big hooks. Finally, after a tension-filled delay, it was announced that Carruth, who had his late dad Austin Carruth and Nicolas Cruz-Hernandez in his corner, had won 13-10 under the new computer scoring system introduced for the 1992 Olympiad.
The Dubliner reckoned he sealed the win in the first 60 seconds of the last round.
“I thought ‘come at me, come at me’ and he did. In the first minute of that round, I became Olympic champion because he walked onto three hooks.
“I knew I’d won, he knew he’d lost. I fell into my dad’s arms”
Cuba’s boxers took home seven gold medals from Barcelona 1992 – but they didn’t take home the welterweight title.
Well done Michael!
