Wolverhampton light-heavyweight boxer Tony Wilson allowed the chance of at least an Olympic bronze medal to slip through his fingers last night.

The 23-year-old building worker lost a points decision to Algerian Mustapha Moussa in a contest which was there for the taking.

He lost it on a jury decision after the five judges failed to separate the fighters on their score card. Three judges scored it for Wilson, two gave it to Moussa. But the jury came down strongly in favour of Moussa with a 5-0 verdict.

While Wilson had no strong compaint about the decision, he was disgusted with his own performance.

He started in total command, flicking his left into Moussa's face and forcing his opponent to miss repeatedly.

But in the second round the Wolverhampton fighter went into retreat and surrendered the initiative.

Moussa cought him with a couple of swinging rights and as the Algerian gained in confidence, so Wilson went further backwards.

"We thought I might just have sneaked it, but I probably didn't deserve to win after the way I fought", he said. "I have got to go away and analyse it on my own. I felt in such good condition I knew a medal was mine. But I got in the wrong frame of mind somehow.

"I feel I have let myself down and my family. I worked really hard to get here and threw it all away."