Golden Ioan Will Take A Break . . . Then Set His Sights For Paris Olympics

BIRMINGHAM – Comments from Ioan CROFT (WAL) after beating Stephen ZIMBA (ZAM) in the men’s welterweight gold medal bout on points at The NEC on Sunday.

 

Ioan CROFT (WAL) – gold

 

On winning gold, with the judges scoring the bout 5-0:

“It’s a dream come true. It will take a few days to sink in.”

 

So happy for the welsh boxing team especially @Rosie_Eccles96 and @IoanCroft being crowned commonwealth champions 🥇🥇👊🏼🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 big shoutout to @taylorbevan_1 on picking up silver, he’s boxer of the tournament for me 👏🏼👏🏼 @WelshBoxing @TeamWales

— Lauren Price MBE (@LLPrice94) August 7, 2022

On winning gold a day after his identical twin brother Garan CROFT had won bronze in the men’s light middleweight:

“They are not the two colours of medal we wanted. I know Garan was desperate to bring home a gold, but he’s got a bronze and he can hold his head high.

 

“I’m sure his medal will mean just as much to him as this one does to me.”

Welsh Boxers Ioan And Garan Croft Will Do Anything For Gold . . . Except Fight Each Other

On his opponent:

“He was a very strong opponent but, technically, I felt I was better than him. I knew that going into the fight, but it was about sustaining my fitness and my shape throughout the fight.

 

“I had to keep him at bay and that paid dividends in the end. When they played the Welsh anthem it felt incredible and I had a thousand thoughts going through my head.”

 

Masterful tactical display from @IoanCroft gives @WelshBoxing and @TeamWales another gold. 🥇👏👏 pic.twitter.com/FQPpMIQaxj

— Graham Thomas (@Graham_Thomas) August 7, 2022

On what’s next:

“I will take a few weeks off; there’s no rush to make any big decisions. I’m still only 20 years old.

 

“There’s a lot ahead of me still in this amateur game and the Olympics in Paris has always been a huge dream. The only medals I don’t have now are the Olympic medal and world championship medal, so that’s the ambition.”