sport news How a simple red mouthguard almost got Aussie heavyweight boxer's opponent ... trends now
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Eddie Coumi has become the fourth Australian boxer to win a Commonwealth medal – and almost didn’t have to throw a punch in the whole Games to collect it.
The Adelaide heavyweight’s quarter-final with Anguilla’s Japheth Olton was in danger of being called off on Thursday because the Caribbean boxer was sporting the wrong-coloured gumshield.
A potential walkover would have left Coumi making the semis and earning a guaranteed bronze without having had a single fight in Birmingham.
Eddie Coumi has become the fourth Australian boxer to win a Commonwealth medal
'I wouldn’t have took it,' reckoned Coumi. 'I didn’t want it like that – I wanted to fight for it.'
He got his wish – and then made short work of Olton, dominating with his ramrod jab, agile movement for a big man and one wince-inducing body shot in the second round which prompted the referee to call a halt.
The drama had begun when the referee pointed out Olton’s red mouthguard to officials, and a debate began over whether he’d be allowed to fight.
'If the mouthguard’s red, it can mask the blood and the ref can’t see it. I thought they were going to call it off,' explained Coumi.
Coumi beat Japheth Olton of Anguilla in the quarter-finals of the heavyweight division
'But they let it go and let him fight
