An already remarkable flow of Irish quarter-finalists at the world amateur championships had turned into a damburst by late afternoon yesterday at the Belfast Odyssey Arena. The litany of Irish medal prospects by that stage had reached five: light-flyweight John Paul Kinsella; bantam Damien McKenna; light-welter Michael Kelly; welter James Moore and light-heavy Alan Reynolds. But the home contingent's run was interrupted in the evening when Meath's John Paul Campbell was outclassed and stopped on the 15 points advantage ruling when trailing 3-18 in the third round by three-time and current European champion Ramazan Palyani of Turkey.
Nineteen-year-old middleweight Kenneth Egan of Dublin's Neilstown got the Irish back on track to become an incredible sixth Irish boxer to qualify for the quarter-finals.
The rangey southpaw annihilated his Lithuanian opponent Miroslav Krepstul 33-13 in a scrambling contest during which both boxers received public warnings.
Kinsella (19), of Bray, scored a 14-13 win over a tough Bulgarian in Salim Salimov. The Irishman's non-stop aggression always boded well against a more one-dimensional opponent.
The Bulgarian led up to midway through the third round, before Kinsella's power regained the initiative. "I knew I was a point ahead seconds from the end and I got on my bike," Kinsella explained. Sports science graduate Kelly fairly blinded English opponent Daniel Happe with boxing science on his way to a 29-18 win. The Louth man, voted best boxer at the world military championships two seasons ago, now faces Frenchman Willy Blain. Moore, the Irish captain, denied Lenord Bundu, a stocky Italian, the opportunity he relentlessly pursued to box inside. The Arklowman carved out an exciting 18-15 win.
Reynolds was yet another one of the Irish boxers to impress in coming from behind. On level scores 2-2 after a round, the Irishman went 4-7 down to Turkish boxer Wildirim Tarhan.
The pair were deadlocked at 10-10 going into the final round but the Irishman used the ring wisely and avoided Tarhan's dangerous left hooks to earn a 15-13 win. Reynolds meets Frenchman John Dovi in the quarter-finals. "He beat me 16-2 when we met in the Olympic qualifiers, but I am stronger now," said the Sligo man.
