BRITISH boxers have been far from punch perfect in Rio to-date but Pat McCormack insists the shortcomings of his teammates are helping him on his way to Olympic gold.

The 21-year-old defeated Kazakhstan’s Ablaikhan Zhussupov by split decision to make it through to the light welterweight round of 16 at his first Olympic Games.

McCormack controlled the fight, landing smart punches as his fast-fisted opponent struggled to land anything clean – making the split decision a bit of a mystery.

It doesn’t get any easier though next up as McCormack faces Yasnier Toledo – the lightweight bronze medalist from London 2012 – but he insists staying relaxed, unlike some of his teammates, will help him to victory.

“I will have to push on for the next one and make it sure because when it said split decision my heart dropped a bit and I was thinking ‘Na, they can’t give it to him’ but it is what it is, I got the win,” he said.

“To be honest it is all about me, if they [teammates] are boxing and getting beat I can learn from their defeats. Qais [Ashfaq] said he was a little tense and I learnt from that and went out and was as relaxed as I could be.

“I wasn’t really tense. Normally my first fights in tournaments are tense so hopefully now I can just box better and better.

“I am going to be busier. I was falling a bit, trying to force it a bit but I will get my rhythm going.

“I knew I was going to have to fight the best here if I wanted to win so why not get them out the way early.”

Welterweight Josh Kelly wasn’t able to get the better of highly-rated second seed Daniyar Yeleussinov, also of Kazakhstan, in his round of 16 bout.

The Kazakh southpaw displayed some incredible hand speed and although Kelly put on a brave display in trying to walk him down and rough him up in the last round, he lost a unanimous decision.

Given the 22-year-old had only had four previous fights this year his display against a former world champion in Yeleussinov was very encouraging.

And Kelly admitted afterwards that if it had taught him anything it is that he has the potential for success should he dedicate himself to the sport even more.

“He’s probably one of the best boxers in the tournament never mind this weight category, he’s top class, but I did the best I could and hopefully it looked quite an even match,” he said.

“He got the more shots off every round. He was fast with his feet and his hands, he was in and then out. I wish I could have had more sparring with quality opponents like that.

“I tried to get to him in the last round, I thought he was tiring and on the inside I thought I was getting the better of him but the referee was breaking us a bit. I gave it everything.

“I’ll get my head down, that was my fifth fight this year and I’ve just sort of come back into and if I was as busy as he was it could have gone either way.

“Hopefully I proved I don’t get overwhelmed and that I belong here. Hopefully with more training and dedication I’ll go on to win medals at these sort of tournaments.”

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