A FURIOUS Joe Murray revealed he is to quit the amateur game for good after finding himself on the receiving end of a 16-3 drubbing by Ireland's David Oliver Joyce in the European Amateur Championships in Liverpool.

The 21-year-old world bronze medallist, who is rated as Manchester's brightest young boxing hope, insisted he deserved more from their featherweight clash and said it was too much to take after also protesting he was robbed by China's Yu Gu in the Olympic Games in August.

Levenshulme-based Murray, who trains in Moss Side, stormed: "They said the scoring was bad in China but when you come back to your home country it's even worse. What's the point putting in all the hard graft when you don't get a fair fight?

"I want to stay amateur but I've been driven away. If I don't go professional now I'm going to have to quit. All I ask is to get in the ring and get a fair decision but it seems too much."

Joyce went over in the first round although the referee ruled a slip, and Murray did not score an actual point until the final round, with two of his three points going in his favour because the Irishman was penalised for a low blow.

Murray was left inconsolable and added: "The kid looks worse than me. He got a cut on his nose and took so many body shots. But if the judges don't like you they don't like you.

"It was as if there was a different scoring system for him. He started banging to the body and was scoring points straight away. I really didn't expect this in my home country but it's just what amateur boxing is."

Murray's coach Joe Gallagher added: "I thought Joe boxed brilliantly and that's it for him now.

"The scoring was an embarrassment. You're not going to see Joe wearing an amateur vest again." Tweet