Sport

Paddy Barnes knows target to qualify for third successive Olympics

Light fly weight in action at last World Series of Boxing fight in Venezuela on April 18th

Paddy Barnes: his opponent for the April 18th clash has yet to be confirmed, but Finol Segundo looks likely. Photograph: Inpho
Paddy Barnes: his opponent for the April 18th clash has yet to be confirmed, but Finol Segundo looks likely. Photograph: Inpho
Mon Mar 30 2015 - 19:02

A win by either a unanimous or split decision, KO or TKO will qualify Paddy Barnes for his third successive Olympics from his last World Series of Boxing (WSB) fight in Venezuela on April 18th.

But what Barnes, who qualified for his first Olympics in Chicago in 2007, doesn’t necessarily want is victory by walkover or if his opponent is disqualified.

The top ranked light-fly at the end of the regular WSB next month will qualify for Rio 2016. Barnes is currently in pole position on 30 points after winning six straight bouts for Italia Thunder this season.

Uzbek Hasanboy Dusmatov is two points adrift of the Belfast orthodox. Dusmatov, who fights for the Ukraine Otamans, will have his last fight on April 17th at home to Russia in Kiev.

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WSB wins by way of unanimous decisions, KO or TKO earn boxers a maximum of five points. Split decision wins yield four points. However, just three points are awarded for walkovers or disqualification.

Likewise if Dusmatov earns five points in Kiev and Barnes’s opponent cedes a walkover or gets disqualified in Maiquetía city, Venezuela 24 hours later both boxers will end up on 33 points each and may have to box-off for a place at Rio 2016.

Dusmatov knows all about how walkover wins could end up costing a place at the Olympics as he effectively dropped two points from a fight he was favourite to win after getting a walkover over Ashley Williams of the British Lionhearts earlier this month.

Barnes' opponent for the April 18th clash has yet to be confirmed, but Finol Segundo looks likely. Michael Conlan will also be in action for Italia Thunder in Venezuela.

Conlan is in second spot in the bantam rankings on 21 points, four behind leader Magomed Gurbanov of Azerbaijan, going into his last fight. The top two bantams qualify for Rio.

However, Russia's Vladimir Nikitin is on 19 points and has two fights left. Irish boxing has won seven of our eight medals in all sports from the last two Olympics. Barnes and Conlan have claimed three of those medals.

Meanwhile, former World Junior gold and bronze medallists Willie Donohue and Kieran Molloy beat Russian pair Aldah Oshorov and Artem Kakulyan in the last 32 of the Nikolay Pavlyukov Youth Memorial in Anapa, Russia yesterday.

The entire Irish nine-strong squad will be in action at the Black Sea holiday resort today.