\n The Belfast brawler pulled out of the application process for this year\u2019s series of the reality TV show after punching his ticket to the Games.\n<\/p>\n
\n He made it through the initial application and then an online call with TV boffins, before being offered an in-person interview with execs in London, alongside his Northern Ireland teammate Kaci Rock.\n<\/p>\n
\n But the duo chose right hooks in Glasgow over hook-ups in the Mallorca sun \u2013 and McConnell admits his gold medal vindicates the choice.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIf I had of got through the first round maybe I’d have thought I didn’t make the right decision, but I’ve got the gold medal now,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI can put that on my CV now – Commonwealth Games gold medallist. If they want to reach out they have my number.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n McConnell claimed gold by beating Wales\u2019 Orlando Holley-Sotomi via a split decision.\n<\/p>\n
\n The 23-year-old won Northern Ireland\u2019s only boxing gold of the Games following defeats for Michaela Walsh and Rock.\n<\/p>\n
\n Four judges scored the bout in his favour, while one sided with the Welshman, and McConnell said he has been manifesting his big moment since he was a kid.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt doesn’t feel real,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt’s been a goal since I was eight or nine years of age. I worked for it every day, and the hard work paid off with a Commonwealth Games gold medal.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI was confident, I thought I landed cleaner shots, but it was nip and tuck.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cHe’s a quality lad. It was like the bull and the matador and I’m the matador and I won the day, thank God.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Rock came closer to joining her teammate on the top step but was soundly beaten by England\u2019s Sacha Hickey.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt is something I never thought I would have done a couple of months ago. To be here and be on the podium is a massive achievement,\u201d she said after the welterweight final.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cA lot of people might have doubted me coming into this competition, and in the final there wasn\u2019t a huge amount in the fight, and I gave the best version of me.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Meanwhile, Michaela Walsh won the third Commonwealth Games silver of her career after losing to reigning world champion Jaismine Lamboria of India in the women\u2019s featherweight final.\n<\/p>\n
\n Walsh won flyweight silver in 2014, featherweight silver in 2018 and then bagged gold in the same category in Birmingham.\n<\/p>\n
\n But the 33-year-old was outclassed by Lamboria in Glasgow.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt was a really close fight,\u201d she said. \u201cShe was 3-2 ahead after the first round and then obviously she was three-up with the judges going into the last round.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI felt it was level going into the last round, but you have to take a few more risks in the last round and I was getting caught by a few shots. Had it been level going into that round, I maybe wouldn\u2019t have taken those risks.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cBut I felt it was a great fight; I was in it the whole way and the judges just veered towards her a little more today.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Thanks to National Lottery players, more than \u00a333m is raised every week for good causes. It\u2019s because of you that sport, arts, heritage, and community projects, as well as our athletes competing at the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games, are supported across the UK.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Belfast brawler pulled out of the application process for this year\u2019s series of the reality TV show…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":840383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":["post-840382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=840382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840382\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/840383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=840382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=840382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=840382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}