Ireland's Jason Quigley edged out in world amateur final

Ireland's Jason Quigley had to settle for a silver medal after being beaten by home fighter Zhanibek Alimkhanuly in the middleweight final at the AIBA World Championships in Kazakhstan.

European champion Quigley, 22, was floored in round one and Alimkhanuly earned an unanimous win.

Donegal's Quigley produced a big effort in round two but still lost the round.

Asian champion Alimkhanuly, 20, was also given the final round by two of the three judges in Almaty.

All that meant a 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28 win for Alimkhanuly.

Quigley was aiming to win the title after becoming the first ever Irish fighter to qualify for a World Amateur Championship final.

However, the Ballybofey man was in trouble within the first two minutes of action as he was dumped to the canvas by a stiff left hand by the Kazakh fighter.

Quigley attempted to regroup during the remainder of the opening round but despite landing a number of decent shots, the knockdown meant that there could be little argument with the 10-9 verdict for Alimkhanuly from all three judges.

The two boxers went toe-to-toe during a terrific second round and while Quigley connected with several good punches, he was also caught on a number of occasions and the home fighter was again adjudged a 10-9 winner on all three cards.

That left Quigley needing to stop the Kazakh fighter in the final round and while the Irishman was given the round by one of the judges, Alimkhanuly earned a 10-9 verdict from the other two adjudicators.

Alimkhanuly had the advantage of not having to fight a semi-final on Friday after British middleweight Anthony Fowler was forced to withdraw because of a hand injury.

Quigley was winning Ireland's second medal at the championships with light-heavyweight Joe Ward picking up a bronze.