There is no fight for bronze, so both losing semi-finalists win a medal.

Verde, the Pan American Games champion, will fight Uzbek Asadkhuja Muydinkhujaev in the final.

Richardson’s defeat ends British interest in the Olympic boxing. He was the only fighter to win a bout after the other four Britons – Delicious Orie, Rosie Eccles, Pat Brown and Chantelle Reid – lost their openers.

Richardson still takes home his first Olympic medal, having been the last of the British squad to qualify for Paris.

He only got into boxing to get fitter for football and had to drop down a weight after his preferred category was removed from the Olympic programme.

Having narrowly missed out on qualifying for the Tokyo Games, the Englishman almost gave up on his Olympic dream when injuries kept him out of the ring for a year.