Boxing:The Irish Amateur Boxing Association (IABA) has confirmed that the five international boxers that missed the unseeded Elite Championsphips last month are fit to take part in a pre World Championship training camp in Cologne next week and for the tournament proper.
Joe Ward, Ray Moylette, Paddy Barnes, Darren O’Neill and John Joe Nevin were all registered for the box-off event at the National Stadium but did not weigh-in for the tournament, having handed in medical certificates to the IABA.
Moylette was subsequently asked to box off against Ross Hickey in a light-welterweight contest last Friday night and the European light-welterweight champion came from behind to claim the vacant place on the Irish team for the World Championships and Olympic qualifiers in Azerbaijan.
Ken Egan, a silver medal winner at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, has been named Irish team captain for Baku and head coach Billy Walsh is confident that his squad can push on from their performances in the European Championships when the event gets underway on September 22nd..
“The lads performed very well at the European Championships, but that was in June. We have to do it all again at the World Championships. We have six lads in the top eight in Europe. If they’re in that position again in Baku then we’re looking at Olympic qualification,” said Walsh.
Irish Squad
49Kg: (Light-flyweight) - Paddy Barnes (Holy Family BC, Belfast)
52Kg: (Flyweight) - Michael Conlon (St John Bosco BC, Belfast)
56Kg: (Bantamweight) - John Joe Nevin (Cavan BC)
60Kg: (Lightweight) - David Oliver Joyce (St Michael's Athy BC, Kildare)
64Kg: (Light-welterweight) - Ray Moylette (St Anne's BC, Mayo)
69Kg: (Welterweight) - Roy Sheehan (St Michael's Athy BC, Kildare)
75Kg: (Middleweight) - Darren O'Neill (Paulstown BC, Kilkenny)
81Kg: (Light-heavyweight) - Joe Ward (Moate BC, Westmeath)
91Kg: (Heavyweight) - Ken Egan (Neilstown BC, Dublin)
91Kg+: (Super-heavyweight) - Con Sheehan (Clonmel BC, Tipperary)