Nevin geared for medal battle

John Joe Nevin will be bidding for Ireland’s first medal at the London Games when he climbs into the ring tomorrow night (8.45pm) to touch gloves with the teak tough Mexican bantamweight Oscar Valdez.

When the 23-year-old Mullingar man rid himself of the cobwebs with a 21-6 win over Dennis Ceylan of Denmark, high-performance coach Billy Walsh asked for a 40% improvement for his next fight and he did that with a 15-7 win over Kanat Abutalipov of Kazakhstan.

Billy wants more again from him tomorrow night, pointing out this will not be a shoo-in but insisting Nevin will win if he performs.