With Katie Taylor preparing to glove up for her shot at Olympic qualification this morning (7am Irish time), flyweight Ceire Smith moved excitingly close to a place in the London Games by claiming a second victory at the Women’s World boxing championships in Quinhuangdao, China, yesterday.

KATIE TAYLOR hammered home her third win in three days yesterday to progress to tomorrow’s semi-finals at the 8th European Women’s Championships in Rotterdam.

THIS may have been a box-off to select the team for the world championships and the first opportunity to qualify for next year’s Olympic Games but none of the recent medallists were in sight when the tournament got under way last night at the National Stadium.

BOXING. Major championships. Gold medals.

IRELAND will have four boxers fighting for medals at the European senior boxing championships in Moscow today after another sensational day at the Ice Palace.

JOHN JOE NEVIN and Katie Taylor completed a fantastic season by claiming the top awards at the IABA Annual Awards ceremony at the Louis Fitzgerald Hotel in Dublin last night.

The Irish Olympic squad could avail of five of 19 byes at the draw for the Olympic boxing event which will take place at the Asia Hotel in Beijing this Friday morning, 11am local time).

John Joe Nevin and Irish captain Ken Egan are through to Saturday's finals at the 2008 European Union Championships in Poland following impressive semi-final victories in Cetniewo this afternoon.

Irish 2008 Olympian Paddy Barnes has received a bye into the 6th European Union Championships light flyweight final following this mornings draw at the Cetniewo Olympic Centre in Cetniewo, Poland.

Irelands quest for a medal at the European Junior Boxing Championships ended in disappointment yesterday following quarter-final defeats for John Joe Nevin and Mark McCullagh in Sombor Serbia.

FRESH from her victory over German champion Yana Kultysheva at the weekend, Ireland’s world boxing champion, Katie Taylor, returns to the ring in Dungarvan on Friday night for the first all-women’s tournament at the Sports Centre.