The first women’s final in the history of the Commonwealth Games appeared, for a time, to have two winners. When the bell rang at the end of the fourth round Nicola Adams and Michaela Walsh started to celebrate, each equally convinced that they had won gold. They were still smiling as they stood either side of the referee waiting for the result.

When it came, seconds later, Walsh, a 21-year-old from Belfast, was left wagging her finger and shouting: “No! No! No!” while Adams leaped up and down in joy. It was a split decision, 2-1 to the Olympic and now Commonwealth champion. Walsh managed to muster a little grudging respect for her opponent, but the crestfallen fighter was quick and keen to insist over and again that she had won.

“In my heart I have got the gold medal. I do believe I was cheated, but that’s boxing for you,” Walsh said. “I know I have got a silver around my neck but I want to spray-paint it gold, because I do believe that fight was mine.”

Adams was adamant that she had won. For her, as well as Walsh fought, she was just another pretender to the crown. “Everybody’s coming to win the gold medal, everybody wants to beat Nicola Adams,” she said. “I’m the No1 ranked in the world. Everybody’s coming for me now so I’ve got to accept that everybody who steps through those ropes wants to beat me and take my spot.”

Walsh trains alongside Paddy Barnes at the Holy Family gym in Belfast, under Gerry Storey. Six days ago, after the first women’s bout in the Games, she called Adams out, insisting that she was “the new golden girl”. It was some claim. She came closer to fulfilling it than many reckoned she would. This is a rivalry that is going to run till Adams calls it quits, which will be after the Rio Olympics in 2016.

“I hope she stays amateur because I want that rematch in Rio,” Walsh said. “And you know I am only a baby, and today is the start of my career. I’ve just had a split decision against an Olympic champion, that speaks for itself. Who else can say they have done that at this age?”

It was not quite as close as Walsh seemed to think. A lot of good judges were certain that Adams had won. But they were surprised, too, at how hard Walsh pushed her. Adams seems to have abandoned the style she used in the Olympics, when she was up on her toes throwing jab after jab.

Instead she has taken to brawling. On a couple of occasions she closed into clinches that ended with both boxers wrestling each other to the canvas. Perhaps Adams is underestimating her opponents, perhaps she is trying to entertain the crowd. “It is just the way they’re scoring the punches now,” she said. “I’ve had to adapt to suit that.”

The first and third rounds were close, though Walsh was sure she had won both. Adams took the second, when Walsh admitted she “fell asleep”.

If anything, it was Adams’s experience that told. She was often throwing the first and final punch in each of the exchanges, and so she seemed to land more clear scoring shots. Walsh came out hard in the fourth, and took control of the centre of the ring while Adams skirted around the outside, trying to keep out of reach.

“I shocked her,” Walsh said. “She wasn’t expecting me, but I have seen lots of footage of her.”

When the round was over, Walsh said an official told her “it was a close fight and it should go to whoever won the last round”. Back in her corner, her coach, John Conlan, told her: “You have won it, you won the gold, girl.”

He was wrong. Walsh’s disappointment was so intense that she broke down in tears on the podium. Adams was having none of it. “She is really good, really talented. Definitely one to watch for the future,” she said. “It was a really close competition, but I think I did enough to win.”

“I worked that little bit more for it, I wanted it that little bit more,” Walsh said, rightly. “Against the Olympic champion I knew if it was anywhere close that she was going to get it but the coaches know I got it, I know I got it. If she watches it again she will know I got it.

“I have made my mark on the world now, people know the name Michaela Walsh. One day I will have that gold medal around my neck. Every time I look at this medal it will remind me of how I feel at this moment and I will go one better and get the gold next time.”