Egan settles for silver

Zhang led on the scoreboard throughout the bout to win the points decision and hand the hosts their second boxing title after Zou Shiming's light-flyweight triumph earlier.

Egan, who was hoping to give Ireland their first gold of the Beijing Games, fought bravely but trailed 2-0 after the first round and could never catch up his opponent.

But the verdict was met by boos from a small but raucous Irish contingent who felt the score did not reflect the bout.

An emotional Zou Shiming thrilled China by winning their first Olympic boxing title in unexpectedly easy fashion.

World champion Zou was leading 1-0 on the scoreboard 19 seconds into the second round of the light-flyweight final when his Mongolian opponent Serdamba Purevdorj, suffering from a recurrent shoulder injury, returned to his corner.

"During the second round we punched each and during that moment I could not raise my hand and I felt the pain," Purevdorj explained after the fight.

His coach threw in the towel, meaning Zou, who had handed China their first boxing medal with bronze at the 2004 Athens Games, was awarded victory to deafening roars from a partisan crowd.

Zou draped himself in the Chinese flag after winning the hosts' 50th gold medal of the Beijing Games and burst into tears during the medal ceremony.

"I did not cry four years ago when I got the bronze but I told myself, when you get gold, you can cry," said the 27-year-old.

"I originally wanted to go out there and put on a good show for everybody but the main thing is getting this gold," he added.

A raucous Mongolian contingent then had a party at the Workers' Gymnasium with Badar-Uugan Enkhbat giving them their first Olympic boxing title by comfortably outpointing Cuba's Yankiel Leon.

World championship silver medallist Enkhbat, 23, was on top throughout the bout and won a 16-5 victory points decision.

Wild celebrations by the Chinese fans meant a rare feat by Russian Alexey Tishchenko did perhaps not get the attention it deserved.

Featherweight champion at the 2004 Athens Games, the red-haired Siberian used all his experience to win a 11-9 decision over Frenchman Daouda Sow in the lightweight final and become the fourth boxer to win gold in two different weight classes.

Cuba were pinning their last hopes on welterweight Carlos Banteaux but he lost to Kazakh Bakhyt Sarsekbayev.

Apart from the 1984 and 1988 Games which they boycotted, Cuba had not left without a boxing title since the 1968 Olympics in Mexico.

The super-heavyweights closed a busy show and two weeks of action with Italian Roberto Cammarelle stopping local favourite Zhang Zhilei in the final round.

Cammarelle, who was 14-4 up when Zhang received a standing count and was stopped by the referee because of a face wound, gave Italy their first Olympic boxing title since Giovanni Parisi won featherweight gold in 1988 in Seoul.

Ukraine's featherweight gold medallist Vasyl Lomachenko was awarded the Val Barker trophy for the most outstanding boxer in the Olympic competition.

The 20-year-old Lomachenko was widely acclaimed as the best pound-for-pound boxer who fought in Beijing.