BOXING OLYMPIC QUALIFIERS: LIKE INDOOR pursuit or diving, boxing has become the sport of cycles, of great bursts of interest followed by lulls. Having learned to thrive without the din of constant attention, Olympic years like these thrust the boxers back under the public gaze.
Since the 1956 medals of Fred Tiedt, Freddie Gilroy, John Caldwell and Tony Byrne, and more recently the Beijing haul of Paddy Barnes, Kenny Egan and the tragic Darren Sutherland, boxing has become a country’s lifeline to Olympic respect.
Since independence, Ireland has won 23 Olympic medals. Of those, 12 have been in boxing, six in athletics, four to Michelle de Bruin in swimming and one in sailing. This week, the journey towards London 2012 continues in far flung Trabzon, a provincial Turkish city. For boxing, the final roll of the dice for a place in this summer’s Games has begun in the Black Sea resort.
Irish team coach Billy Walsh is both hopeful and mindful with his team of seven boxers. Hopeful that since the death of Sutherland and the unseating of 2008 silver medallist Kenny Egan by Joe Ward, names such as Beijing bronze medallist Barnes and European champion Ward might be added to the Olympic ticket alongside the already qualified flyweight from West Belfast, Michael Conlan, bantamweight John Joe Nevin, and Kilkenny middleweight Darren O’Neill.
Walsh’s mindfulness is regarding the fact Turkey has not been able to push any Turkish boxers through to London via last year’s World Championships in Baku, which doubled as an Olympic qualifier. Like the seven Irish boxers, the Olympic hopes of the entire Turkish boxing team rest in their ability to perform in their home town this week. Given the traditional fury generated by the scoring system, the staging of the event in Trabzon would be seen as quite a sweet advantage for Turkish opponents.
Qualification this week, though, is not straightforward, and comes with the magic dust the International Olympic Committee sprinkles around the qualifying events to keep the Games a truly global event. A ticket to London arrives at different stages of the competition, depending on the weight division. Some of the boxers will get through with a top-four finish while others will have to win a gold medal.
There are no other Irish boxers competing in the weight divisions of Conlan, Nevin or O’Neill, as only one boxer per nation can participate in each weight category in London. Of the seven remaining divisions, light welterweight Ross Hickey and Belfast heavyweight Tommy McCarthy have the toughest task and must win their category outright to qualify for the sole position available for the summer.
In welterweight and super heavyweight, two places are on offer, which means Bray garda Adam Nolan and Clonmel’s Con Sheehan, in the 91+ class, must make it to the final for a place in London.
All of the targets are onerous, but less so in the light heavyweight division, where Ward competes. The 18-year-old European champion will fight for one of three places on offer, which means both finalists as well as the semi-finalist who loses to the eventual winner will qualify to fight again in August in the Exel Arena, the London Olympic venue.
The 60kg lightweight division, where David Oliver Joyce competes, and the 49kg light flyweight class of Barnes have four Olympic places on offer, which gives them the widest windows of opportunity. A semi-final place, the last four, would be enough to push both boxers through to the summer Games.
Last year, before the World Championships, Walsh spoke of getting five Irish boxers to London. At that stage Conlan was seen to be talented, but too green to make an impression at world level. Surprising most, he came through and just lost out on a medal on a count back, while the favoured Ward and Barnes didn’t make it.
Ward is now ranked three in the world and is one of the favourites for the competition. His enterprise in a recent Multi Nations tournament in Halle, Germany, again turned heads. Ward finished on top of the light-heavyweight podium – and also scooped the Best Technical boxer award after a 20-14 win over Russia’s 2009 World champion and twice European champion, Egor Mekhonstev.
Barnes’s ranking stands at seven in the latest figures released at the beginning of this month, while the current ranking of the London qualified boxers is also encouraging, with O’Neill ranked at three in the world, Nevin four and Conlan 14.
Already, though, the tournament has hit a glitch. The opening bell for what is the final qualifying event for European male boxers was delayed for 24 hours because of fog. The tournament was due to begin on Saturday with some preliminary bouts, but did not get going until yesterday.
Forty-four nations and 211 boxers have registered to compete in the northeastern city, but by last Friday, a day before the opening ceremony, 18 teams, 79 boxers and 16 referees and judges still hadn’t arrived.
By division: The Irish contenders
49kg(Light-flyweight) Paddy Barnes (Holy Family) – 4 qualification places.
60kg(lightweight) David Oliver Joyce (St Michael's Athy) – 4 qualification places.
64kg(Light-welterweight) Ross Hickey (Grangecon) – 1 qualification place.
69kg(Welterweight) Adam Nolan (Bray) – 2 qualification places.
81kg(Light-heavyweight) Joe Ward (Moate) – 3 qualification places.
91kg(Heavyweight) Tommy McCarthy (Oliver Plunkett) – 1 qualification place.
91+kg(Super-heavyweight) Con Sheehan (Clonmel) – 2 qualification places.
Coaches: Billy Walsh, Zuar Antia, Eddie Bolger, Jimmy Halpin, Peter Taylor
PhysiotherapistColm McCarthy
Strength ConditioningJohn Cleary
Darren O’Neill, John Joe Nevin and Michael Conlan have qualified for the 2012 Olympics
WARD AND JOYCE WIN OPENING BOUTS
EUROPEAN LIGHT-heavyweight champion Joe Ward got Ireland's campaign off to a flying start in Trabzon yesterday.
The 18-year-old world number three hammered out a 16-6 win over Sweden's Kennedy Katende to set up today's last-16 clash with Turkey's Bahran Muzaffer at the Hari Gur venue.
Katende, who was beaten by Ireland's Ken Egan in the final of the 2008 Olympic qualifiers in Athens, was 8-3 down going into the last frame of yesterday's 81kg preliminary.
"It was an excellent performance from Joe. He kept his cool and his composure against a very experienced opponent and did a very good job over the three rounds," said IABA director of boxing Dominic O'Rourke.
Meanwhile, St Michael's Athy lightweight David Oliver Joyce, who was 10-4 down after the first, recorded Ireland's second win last night after Wales' Joe Cordina was retired by his corner after taking two standing counts in the third.
Joyce now goes head-to-head with Germany's Arthur Bril in the last-16 tomorrow in a repeat of last month's Chemistry Cup quarter-final which Joyce won on a countback.
Ross Hickey, Adam Nolan, Tommy McCarthy and Con Sheehan will begin their quests for Olympic places this afternoon and evening.
