Current world number one fighter Zou Shiming experienced a breathtaking semifinal against Paddy Barnes from Ireland to advance into the final on men's 49kg category at London Olympics?in London?on Friday.

Zou had a dominant victory at Beijing Olympics four years ago with a score of 15-0. However, he met a tough fight from his rival.

The 31-year-old Chinese boxer opened the match with an 8-5 first round win, but the result wasn't enough to destroy the confidence of the Irish fighter. Barnes organized a fightback in the second round, which resulted in a score of 3-3.

The Irish got advantage of the exhausted Zou in the final round, delivering a 7-4 to pull the score back to 15-15 at the end of the match.

A poor first round proved costly for Barnes, and he had to take the defeat after the total score from the judges supported his Chinese rival.

"The two fighters are good friends off the ring, but this isn't a handsome match. Zou was away from boxing for two years, and he was much less energetic than his younger opponents," said Chinese coach Zhang Chuanliang.

"However, Zou's technic was still the best."

Zou was just one match away from his second Olympic gold.

"For the finals I will be careful and meticulous and I will give it my best," said Zou.

"I felt total and utter devastation (on hearing the result). I have trained so hard for the last four years and my aim was gold," said Barnes.

"He is elusive. I tried hard to pin him down. I was so close to the final. It was down to the first round."