Stalker (r) came within one win of claiming a medal in Liverpool

Huyton lightweight Tom Stalker has described his quarter-final defeat at the European Amateur Boxing Championships as "horrible".

The 23-year-old, who was one win away from a bronze medal in Liverpool, was beaten 6-4 in a scrappy affair by Belarussian Vazgen Safaryants.

"I'm devastated, I was so relaxed I thought I'd just box his head off," he told BBC Radio Merseyside.

"He was always holding and in a clinch, it was just a horrible fight."

Observers ringside also felt that many of the shots Stalker landed went unrewarded, while Safaryants appeared to be picking up points cheaply.

But Stalker refused to blame the officials.

"That's amateur boxing, that's just the way it goes," he concluded.

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