IRISH boxing star Paddy Barnes has admitted it still hasn’t fully sunk in that he has qualified for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
The Holy Family Belfast light flyweight booked his place in Beijing after reaching the quarter-finals of the World Championships and Olympic qualifiers in Chicago just over two weeks ago.
The 20-year-old was beaten in the quarter-finals by defending champ and eventual gold medallist Shiming Zou from China, but his final eight finish was enough to secure Olympic qualification.
Barnes now follows in the footsteps of Andy Lee (St Francis Limerick) and Michael Roche (Sunnyside Cork) as the third Irish boxer to qualify for the Olympics this century,
He said: “I still find it hard to believe that I have qualified for the Olympics, to tell the truth. The lads in the club keep reminding me but even so it still hasn’t fully sunk in yet.”
The rest of the Irish senior squad will have two final opportunities to make it to Beijing from Olympic qualifiers in Italy and Greece in February and April next year.
But first up are the National Senior Championships, which will be held over four days in early January at the National Stadium in Dublin.
Barnes commented: “My first priority is to successfully defend my Irish title in January and I think it is a great idea to run the Senior Championships over four days, as that is the way international competitions are run.
“Because I qualified for the Olympics, everyone will be trying to beat me at the Nationals. But I will be prepared for that and I am confident that I will do well in Dublin.”
Meanwhile, World lightweight champion Katie Taylor was back in the news again last week after she was named the Irish Times/VHI Sportswoman of the Month for October.
Taylor, from the St Fergal’s club in Bray, claimed her third European title on the trot last month, just under a year after she won her 60kg world title in New Delhi, India.
The 21-year-old product of the Irish Amateur Boxing Association’s (IABA) High Performance unit, and Ireland’s most successful sportsperson in any sport in the last two years, will now be in contention for the Irish Times/VHI Sports-woman of the Year award for 2007.
It is the second time this month that a boxer has been recognised with an award by an Irish newspaper. On 2 November, Paddy Barnes won the Irish Independent/Jurys Doyle Hotels Sportstar of the Week award.
The young fighter’s achievement in Chicago has seen him rise to number 13 in the world and eighth in Europe in the rankings just published for October on the ABA Amateur Boxing website.
Taylor, meanwhile, is ranked number one in the world and Europe for the 10th month running. She is also ranked number one in the world and Europe in the pound-for-pound section.
In pro news, Irish middleweight Andy Lee is counting down the days to his appearance at the National Stadium in Dublin next month after watching Marcus Thomas being counted out in the USA in the early hours of last Friday morning.
Unbeaten Lee racked up the 13th win of his career – and the third first-round stoppage in his last five fights – with a clinical first-round demolition job on the Barbados-born puncher at the Compuware Arena in Plymouth, Michigan (near Detroit).
Thomas, nicknamed ‘Mar-vellous’, went into the fight with a respectable record of 10 wins from 12, but was floored courtesy of a stiff left inside the first minute. He beat the count following that blow, but was then on the receiving end of a barrage of body shots before being dropped by a left hook and counted out midway through the round.
It was another emphatic victory for Lee, who was co-headlining the card along with his Kronk Gym stable-mate Jonathon Banks, who also won.
Next up for the Limerick southpaw is the National Stadium in Dublin on 15 December, an occasion the former Irish Olympian is eagerly looking forward to.
He said: “The victory against Thomas was the 10th knockout of my career so far and while it might have appeared easy, Thomas has a decent record and that has to be respected.
“The fight was scheduled to go 10 rounds, which would have been the first time I went that distance. It didn’t go that far, but that’s boxing.
“Once I saw that he was in trouble I moved in for the kill, and I knew once the left hook landed that it was all over. I was very pleased with my performance although it didn’t last long.
Lee will box in Dublin next month having got only 18 competitive rounds under his belt this year, as he has stopped seven opponents well inside the distance.
He added: “It may look easy, but I have been in training camp for months this year and I have been sparring with the likes of Jermain Taylor and Kermit Clinton.
“It is very intense training but it obviously helps, because when I do get into the ring I’m blowing guys away and the reason for that is that my training regime.
“It will be a dream come through for me to headline the National Stadium next month and I can’t wait for it to happen, I’m counting down the days.”
Cory Johnson has been mentioned as Lee’s likely opponent on 15 December, and Johnson’s coach, Tyrell Chambers, was at ringside for Lee’s brief encounter with Thomas in Michigan.
Elsewhere, unbeaten Cork welterweight Billy Walsh will box for an Irish welterweight title on Leeside on 19 January, his coach Pascal Collins has confirmed.
And Loughmahoin welterweight Gary O’Sullivan will make his long awaited professional debut on the night.
According to Collins, a brother of ex-world champ Steve, they have the date confirmed and are now looking at a number of possible venues while waiting to get an opponent for Walsh sanctioned by the boxing commission.
He said: “I am looking at a few venues and opponents at the moment, but Billy will box for an Irish title on 19 January next year in Cork.
“I should be in a position to confirm Billy’s opponent and a venue on 2 December when the Riverstown Boxing Club take on a USA selection at the Vienna Woods Hotel.”
O’Sullivan was being touted to make his pro debut on the Wayne McCullough/Kiko Martinez undercard at The King’s Hall in Belfast on 1 December. However, he will now box for the last time as an amateur at the National Intermediate Championships, which begin at the National Stadium in Dublin this weekend.
