Egan set to land record ninth title

BOXING NEWS: THREE OLYMPIANS are in action tonight as the third week of the National Senior Championships comes to a climax at the Stadium.

Ken Egan, the light heavyweight champion and Olympic silver medallist, faces Tommy McCarthy, a bronze medal winner at the 2008 World Youth Championships, while John Joe Joyce, at light welterweight, and bantamweight John Joe Nevin are also defending their national titles in the first domestic championships since Beijing.

Egan, who is seeking a record ninth title, was not back to full sharpness after the post-Olympic lay-off but came through his semi-final against Denis Hogan convincingly. He conceded just a point in each round in his 16-3 win.

Nevin faces Ryan Lindberg from the Immaculata club in Belfast, with Joyce from St Michael’s Athy, meeting Crumlin’s Philip Sutcliffe. Olympic bronze medallist and light flyweight defending champion Paddy Barnes has already secured his title as he had no other competitors in that weight division.

In the 11 weight categories, three are vacant, including the middleweight title, which Darren Sutherland held until he turned professional after the Olympics. In that competitive division Twintown’s Stephen O’Reilly meets Darren O’Neill from Paulstown. O’Neill reached his second consecutive middleweight final with a convincing semi-final win over Eamon O’Kane, the 2008 EU Championships bronze medallist, and goes into tonight as favourite to earn Sutherland’s belt.

In the flyweight division, Declan Geraghty, who moved up a division giving Barnes his free title, faces Conor Ahern from Baldoyle. Geraghty came from behind in his semi-final to set up the meeting with former champion Ahern.

One of the more interesting meetings is in the super heavyweight division, where Moate’s Joe Joyce faces his club colleague and brother, David, for the vacant title. A further interesting twist here is the two Joyces made it to the final by beating the Crampton brothers in the semi-finals. David defeated Thomas Crampton, while Joe beat Anthony. One of the rewards for winning tonight is the international meeting with the USA later this month in Dublin and on March 1st in Athy.

Meanwhile, the AIBA executive committee unanimously voted to send the International Olympic Committee a new proposal in an effort to include women’s boxing in the 2012 Olympic Games in London following its three-day meeting in Milan. This is encouraging news for Ireland’s world lightweight champion Katie Taylor. The AIBA technical and rules commission presented a proposal, which would incorporate women’s boxers into the Olympic programme and streamline the men’s weight categories.

The AIBA executive committee fully supported the proposal and the AIBA technical and rules commission’s recommendation to finalise the weight categories in the coming weeks. The IOC is expected to make a decision on whether women’s boxing is included in the 2012 Games at its congress in Copenhagen in October.