Ireland manager Billy Walsh believes Irish welterweight Adam Nolan was very unlucky to lose a split decision against France's Souleymane Cissokho in his first round clash at the AIBA World Elite Men's Championships in Almaty, Kazakhstan today.

The Wexford fighter was awarded all three rounds by the Brazilian judge, but the other two judges from Azerbaijan and Denmark scored it two-one in favour of the French fighter.

“I’m disappointed, he started off very, very well,” admitted Walsh. “He clearly won the first round, I felt that he didn’t lose the second round and he didn’t lose the last round. He matched him every time with it, so we thought we were going to come out on top.

“One of the judges gave it to us, three rounds, but unfortunately we lost out, which has to be a disappointment to us all. We fought this guy already this year and had success against him. We knew it was going to be tough, but it wasn’t to be tonight.”