FORMER Irish Olympian Billy Walsh is predicting that whoever wins the 2008 Irish senior middleweight title will qualify for next summer’s Olympics in Beijing.
Irish amateur boxing is bracing itself for the clash of middleweights Darren Sutherland and Darren O’Neill at the National Senior Championships, which began at the National Stadium in Dublin on 8 January.
The championships will be run over four consecutive days to facilitate the two final Olympic qualifiers for European boxers in Pescara, Italy in February/March, and Athens, Greece in April.
However, boxers winning or retaining Irish titles this week will only be entitled to compete in the Italian qualifiers. If they fail to book their spots for Beijing there, they will then compete in a box-off at the National Stadium on 14–15 March against the beaten semi-finalists from the Senior Championships for a place on the Irish team for the final European qualifiers in Athens.
Sutherland, from the St Saviour’s club in Dublin, is the reigning Irish middleweight champion. But O’Neill, of the Paulstown club in Kilkenny, is breathing down his neck for the Irish 75kg vest.
Both boxers looked destined to meet in last February’s senior finals, but O’Neill picked up a hand injury and had to withdraw. Sutherland then went on to claim his second Irish senior title on the trot, but lost out to Venezuela’s Alfonso Blanco within one fight of Olympic qualification in Chicago last November.
Meanwhile, speaking before the Senior Championships kicked off, IABA president Dominic O’Rourke was looking ahead to what he predicted would be the most exciting tournament in years.
“The middleweight section will be highly competitive and looking at the quality of the boxers in this weight category. I would say that whoever wins out will definitely have earned their place on the plane for Pescara,” he said.
“While the middleweight division should really capture the imagination, we should also have some top class competition in the other weight categories, particularly with Greg Ormond, Ross Hickey and Ian Tims competing.
“Aodh Carlyle is another example. Aodh has been desperately unlucky not to win an Irish title down through the years and he only lost out to Bernard Dunne for an Irish title by a very slim margin back in the nineties.
“Looking at the sheer quality of the entries so far, I would confidently predict that that we will see the most exciting Irish Senior Championships in years at the National Stadium.”
Irish captain Ken Egan will be targeting his eighth senior title this week, while Paddy Barnes, from the Holy Family club in Belfast, is aiming for his second in a row. The two final Olympic qualifiers are of academic interest only to Barnes, who qualified for the 2008 Olympic Games at the World Championships in Chicago last October.
In other news, reigning World and European lightweight champion Katie Taylor was back on top of the podium after landing the Best Boxer award at the Belfast Crystal-sponsored IABA Awards for 2007 held at the Ringside Club, adjacent to the National Stadium in Dublin.
Paddy Barnes was also honoured on the night with the prestigious Ann Abatte Achievement award. In addition, the three gold and two silver medal winners at last June’s EU Championships – Ken Egan, Darren Sutherland, Roy Sheahan and Cathal McMon-agle and Carl Frampton – were presented with awards.
And the Imaculatta club in Belfast were celebrating on the treble after scooping the Best Club, Best Coach and Best Boy awards.
In pro news, Irish middleweight Andy Lee has vowed to do the double when he headlines his own show at the University of Limerick next month.
Promoter Brian Peters confirmed at last Thursday’s press conference, at the Hunt Museum in Limerick, that Lee, who is unbeaten in 14 fights, would be the main attraction in the first ever professional show on Shannonside on 2 February.
The ex-St Francis Limerick fighter’s opponent for the University Arena clash has yet to be decided, but Peters stated that he should be in a position to name an opponent for the 10-rounder within the next two weeks.
Lee, who boxes out of the Kronk Gym in Detroit, will return to the USA on Saturday to go into training camp with world heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Looking ahead to the 2 February promotion, the former Irish Olympian said that it was a dream come true to be given the opportunity to box at the University of Limerick, which is less than a mile away from his family’s home in Castleconnell.
He said: “When I fought in Dublin I got a fantastic reception, but Limerick is my home town and it is a great honour to be given the opportunity to box at home in front of the people that have done so much for me down through the years.
“Like everyone else, I’m waiting for my opponent to be confirmed, but I won’t let that distract me as I will prepare just as I always do. I return to the States on Saturday and when I return my opponent should be named.
“I am eagerly looking forward to this one. Boxing in Dublin was great but Limerick is where it all started happening for me and I am just thrilled to be headlining my own show in my own town.”
The impressive undercard for the 2 February event the University of Limerick will also include Paul McCloskey, Matthew Macklin and Jason McKay, who Lee beat in his last fight at the National Stadium in Dublin in December.
