Joe Murray has spoken of his intense frustration and anger at the scoring during his defeat at the European Amateur Championships, which were held in Liverpool.

The young fighter from Manchester was competing against David Oliver Joyce from Ireland. The match finished 16-3 in Joyce’s favour but certain decisions seemed to go against the Manchester fighter.

Joyce went down during the first round but it was ruled to be a slip by the referee. Indeed, Murray did not score a single point until the final round of the fight. After the match, the boxer, who is a world featherweight bronze medallist, revealed that he may quit amateur boxing.

He stated that he has been “driven away” by unfair decisions and questioned the point of “putting in the hard graft” in training when a fair fight is denied by questionable decisions. Murray believes that if the judges take a personal dislike to a fighter, their decisions will be affected.

The fighter, who is still only 21 years of age, was also vocal in his criticism of the scoring at the Beijing Olympics and now believes that if he does not turn professional, he will have to quit the sport completely.

Joe Gallagher, the fighter’s coach, was keen to provide support to his young boxer. He believed that Murray put in a great performance and the scoring was so bad that it became embarrassing. He finished his statement by revealing that the public will never see “Joe wearing an amateur vest again”.

Fans of British boxing will hope that Murray does not quit the world of boxing and manages to make a successful transition, if he so chooses, between the realms of amateur boxing and professional boxing.