Workers' heroes go into battle

BOXING:DAYS AT the Workers' Gymnasium have assumed the comfort of routine for the Irish here. Arriving with a party of five, just two defeats have had to be absorbed and neither loss extinguished the hope surrounding the young men who sustained it. Otherwise the final bell in every fight has been followed by the sight of a gloved Irish hand being raised aloft, hugs in the Irish corner and the happy banter of the mixed zone.

Paddy Barnes, Darren Sutherland and Kenny Egan have emerged from the forgotten sporting hinterland of amateur boxing to become household names and sporting heroes. What happens today, and for the rest of the weekend, has the feeling of celebration about it, regardless of points scored or punches taken.

The success of the boxers provides much-needed partisan flavouring to an Olympic Games which have been stodgy to the Irish palate. Events in the ring have eased pressure on the Irish team as a whole, on those who paid dearly to come here looking for a little of the Olympic experience and on the IABA's high -performance unit, which experienced political pressures internally and externally before navigating five fighters to qualification here and three of them to medals.

Happily each fighter today, in his own way, represents that liberation from pressure. Barnes, at 21, is well ahead of the curve in terms of his development. He fights the Chinese double world champion Zou Shiming, but having come here for the experience he is deep into bonus territory.

Sutherland departs for the pro ranks when these games are over to fulfil a dream he embarked on in his mid-teens. Having committed himself to the mother of all digressions (a Leaving Cert and a university degree), he will resume his interest in pro fighting with an Olympic medal in his pocket. What colour that is will have only a marginal effect on the value of a fighter whose style and confidence look made for the professional game.

And Egan, the corinthian of the group. All those years of national championships, all those heartbreaks. He goes into this weekend in what is the easier side of the draw but knowing that if he makes a final he has shown enough class here in Beijing to make it right to the top.

So it's a weekend of celebration. Boxing, at amateur level especially, a sport of such redemptive qualities and a sport which gives us at this level better value for resources than anything else, has come through for us again.

"When people sweat together and put themselves through the things that boxers put themselves through, there is a loyalty and a brotherhood that people don't understand from the outside. These boys are part of that and that's the best of what boxing can be. It's a great feeling just to be involved," says Billy Walsh, the head coach who has been with these fighters for the last five years.

And yet as we sit back to enjoy the fruits of considerable labours today and hopefully on Sunday you can hear familiar voices urging us to get ready to rumble. If you look beyond the finely chiselled torsos of Barnes, Egan and Sutherland, you will see two gnarled veterans from the pro game working the bags and honing themselves for their next scrap.

Pat "The Real Deal" Hickey and John "The Truth" Treacy will be putting the hurt on each other as soon as the amateur tournament is done with. Seconds out for the rematch. And this time it's financial. Hickey, pound-for-pound the best scrapper of his generation and as yet unbeaten in the ring, will have dismayed many of his supporters by his decision to put the gloves on again at the risk of sustaining real damage this time.

Treacy, a wily southpaw counterpuncher and good with the bob and weave, will prove a hard target in the wake of boxing's success at the games, but as always a large part of the welfare of each fighter will depend on the speed and alacrity of their corner men.

Fighting out of the Sports Council stable Treacy is likely to work Hickey's body with digs to the effect that three medals represents a decent Olympics by anybody's standards. Hickey, not noted for having a glass jaw, may sustain damage over the issue of Gary Keegan the IABA's high-performance director not having accreditation here at the Games.

Hickey, whose style is to trade punches furiously and see who is left standing, will score with some combination work about the lamentable showing of athletics and other assorted disciplines.

The rematch is unlikely to bring too many surprises but the pre-fight hype is already beginning to overshadow events in the Workers' Gymnasium here this weekend. If the feel-good factor is still in play next weekend it will be interesting to see if there is a public appetite for this spectacle which in the long term is pay-per-view for all of us.

Today, though, is for the athletes and the heroes.