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) (Source)
