After the freak accident suffered by light heavyweight Joe Ward on Monday, when his kneecap was dislocated during a collision against Poland’s Mateusz Tryc, Ireland regrouped and has qualified five boxers into the quarterfinals of the European Championships in Minsk.
The three Olympic medallists from London 2012, John Joe Nevin, Paddy Barnes and Michael Conlan are all one win away from a European medal with Donegal debutant Jason Quigley and Belfast heavyweight Tommy McCarthy joining them in the last eight.
There was disappointment however for the Bray Southpaw and welterweight Olympian, Adam Nolan, who lost out on all cards to the Ukraine’s Boghdan Shelestyuk.
All five qualifiers are in the ring today hoping to add to the 48 medals male and female Irish boxers have won in the championships since the men began in 1939. Katie Taylor’s contribution to that total is five successive gold medals.
Mullingar’s Nevin, the number one seed and bantamweight silver medallist, dominated his Turkish opponent Selcuk Exer with all three judges scoring the match 30-27 in his favour.
The next is a huge fight for Nevin, who almost quit the amateur ranks after the Olympic Games to turn professional. He meets Hungary’s Krisztian Nagy today knowing that a win will see him become the first Irish boxer along with Olympic champion Taylor to win medals at the four major boxing championships, the Olympics, World, European and EU Championships.
A win would also secure his world number one status above Cuba’s reigning world champion Lazaro Alvarez Estrada, who he defeated in the ExCel Arena last August.
The two-time Olympic bronze medalist Barnes also wasted little time sweeping aside Wales’ John Ashley William on an unanimous (30-27, 30-27,29-28) decision. The Belfast light-flyweight dominated all three rounds to set up a meeting with Hungary’s Istvan Ungvari.
It’s not a bad draw for Barnes, a gold medal winner at the 2010 Europeans in Moscow, as Ungvari is an opponent he beat in the Olympic qualifiers in Turkey in March of last year.
Quigley claimed his 23rd straight win at the expense Austria’s Arbi Chakaev, the Finn Valley middleweight also earning a unanimous (30-27, 29-28, 29-28) decision. Quigley, who won the Irish title ahead of Olympic captain Darren O’Neill now meets Germany’s Stefan Haertel, the man who defeated O’Neill in London last summer.
Heavyweight McCarthy beat Finland’s Tomi Honka 30-27 only to earn a difficult meeting against the defending European champion, Teymur Mammadou of Azerbaijan.
“Paddy’s performance was very good. He had a long week without getting any trial at all. He always into your man, great defence also. He won it well and we’re very happy with that,” said Irish team manager Joe Hennigan
“Tommy McCarthy was another fella that had a long week, but yet again came out on top. It was a good performance from Tommy and Jason had a great contest. He looked very sharp with long jabs to his opponent and John Joe won very well, but we’re only going into the quarter-finals now and it will be all to play for again tomorrow There’s medals to be won now.”
Joe Ward returned home to Ireland last night. It’s expected that the number one seed at the tournament will be out for at least a month.
European Championships Minsk, Belarus
June 4th (last 16)
49kg: P Barnes (Ireland) beat John Williams (Wales) 3-0
56kg: JJ Nevin (Ireland) beat S Exer (Turkey) 3-0
69kg: A Nolan (Ireland) lost to B Shelestyuk (Ukraine) 0-3
75kg: J Quigley (Ireland) beat A Chakaev (Austria) 3-0
91kg: T McCarthy (Ireland) beat T Honka (Finland) 3-0
June 5th Quarter-finals
49kg: P Barnes (Ireland) v I Ungvari Hungary)
52kg: M Conlan (Ireland) v S Loban (Belarus)
56kg:JJ Nevin (Ireland) v K Nagy (Hungary)
75kg: J Quigley (Ireland) v S Haertel (Germany)
91kg: T McCarthy (Ireland) v T Mammadou (Azerbaijan)
