Paddy Barnes recorded a majority-decision points win over Silvio Olteanu at the Waterfront Hall on Saturday night as the two-time Olympic medallist claimed his first professional title in just his third paid bout.

As the Vanbrugh Quartet get a lifetime achievement award, Gregory Ellis reflects on his 30 years with the group, writes Cathy Desmond

Six-time Irish amateur champion Con Sheehan got his professional career off to a winning start with a points victory over Jonathan Rice in Los Angeles.

RTÉ looks ready to sell on the rights to some matches at Euro 2016 to another Irish broadcaster.

TV3 could bid against RTÉ for Irish TV rights to the Olympic Games if, as expected, free-to-air rights are sub-licensed to an Irish broadcaster.

RTÉ has yet to decide if it will broadcast the 2020 and 2024 Olympics after US-based media giant Discovery Communications secured the European broadcast rights for four Olympics through 2024 in a landmark deal worth €1.3bn.

It could only happen at the Eurovision Song Contest— TV presenter preforming an electro-pop ballad dancing in front of a black screen with animated gnomes, wins the final.

The controversial bout between David Haye and Dereck Chisora will definitely go ahead, according to organisers, after the Luxembourg Boxing Federation reiterated its support for the fight despite a threat of expulsion from the European Boxing Union.

WILLIE “Big Bang” Casey is ready to return to the ring under new management for a tilt at the durable French super bantamweight, Daniel Kadjo, at the Limerick Institute of Technology on September 3.

WILLIE ‘Big Bang’ Casey could be the ideal opponent for the two-time Olympic champion Guillermo Rigondeaux, according to the Cuban’s manager Gary Hyde.

PATRICK HYLAND will have an opportunity to reinforce his rating with the EBU and, ultimately, his claims for an early shot at a European title when he takes on Suate Laze at the Hunky Dory’s Fight Night in Breaffy House Resort in Castlebar on Saturday night.

WILLIE ‘BIG BANG’ CASEY will headline a big professional boxing show at Neptune Stadium, Cork, in January.

WILLIE ‘Big Bang’ Casey and Paul Hyland were primed for battle as they weighed in for tonight’s all-Ireland European title thriller at the University Arena in Limerick.

CASH-STRAPPED RTÉ will have to pay out up to €10 million to broadcast the soccer World Cup and the Six Nations Rugby games this year.

GARY ‘Spike’ O’Sullivan will take his professional boxing career to a new level when he challenges Ciarán Healy from Belfast for the vacant Irish middleweight title at Neptune Stadium in Cork on November 28.

ANDY LEE takes the biggest step of his career when he meets the French and European Union middleweight champion, Affif Belghecham, in what could turn out to be an eliminator for a European title fight at the UL Sports Arena in Limerick on November 14.

Georgia’s entry for this year’s Eurovision song contest was banned by organisers today because its lyrics seem to poke fun at Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin.

Rendall Munroe has rubbished suggestions that he is avoiding putting his European super-bantamweight belt on the line against former champion Bernard Dunne.

IRELAND’S five Olympic boxers have arrived in Bugeat, France, for the penultimate training camp in advance of the Olympic Games.

BERNARD DUNNE will be more than an interested spectator at the Kings Hall in Belfast on Saturday night when Wayne McCullough relaunches his boxing career against Kiko Martinez.

Spaniard Kiko Martinez lived up to his nickname of "La Sensacion" by scoring a stunning first round knock out of home favourite Bernard Dunne at a packed out Point Depot last night.

AS far as co-promoter Pat Magee is concerned, the controversy instigated by Kiko Martinez ahead of his tilt at Bernard Dunne’s European super bantamweight title at the Point in Dublin on August 25, is now closed.

BERNARD DUNNE will defend his European super bantamweight title against Yerson Jailauov from Kazakhstan at the Point Depot on March 25 in the first of four planned fights this year.

Audley Harrison will return to the ring with a February 17 showdown against fellow British heavyweight Michael Sprott as he bids to continue rebuilding his career.

BERNARD DUNNE will be cheering on rival Michael Hunter as the Englishman bids for world title glory tonight in Hartlepool.

Former European and British bantamweight champion Noel Wilders has been chosen to oppose Dubliner Bernard Dunne at the National Stadium on Saturday, January 28.

HAVING chalked up an 18th straight pro win in Germany last weekend, Bernard Dunne is hoping to make a step up in class by challenging England’s Michael Hunter for the European (EBU) super bantamweight title within the next six months.

Former IBO super-middleweight champion Brian Magee got his career back on track with a second round stoppage of Armenian Varuzhan Davtyan at the National Stadium in Dublin tonight.

Irishman Bernard Dunne is shedding the pounds in order to secure a shot at England’s European super-bantamweight champion Esham Pickering.

THE eerie footage captured deep underground by a Tube passenger with a mobile phone has already become one of the more enduring images of the London bombings.

Organisers of a concert celebrating 50 years of the Eurovision Song Contest today revealed the 14 songs to be performed in a live television show on October 22.

BERNARD DUNNE is poised to box his way into possible contention for a shot at the European featherweight title at the National Stadium tonight, when victory over Yuri Voronin would earn him a place in the EBU’s top 10 rankings.

Organisers of a Eurovision Song Contest semi-final launched an investigation today after some countries received the wrong number of points following a technical glitch.

From the moment they stepped off a train from Moscow into a mob of screaming fans and TV cameras, provocative Russian duo tATu has stolen the show at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.

LOYAL Mickey Joe Harte supporters breathed a sigh of relief yesterday when his Eurovision song was declared a true original.

THE Government has vowed to press ahead with its plans to ensure that all of Ireland’s competitive soccer internationals will remain available to free-to-air stations, despite the possibility of a legal challenge from Sky TV.

RTÉ’S monopoly over TV rights to the Olympic Games and World Cup soccer finals could be under threat following a landmark legal ruling by the European courts.

American Johnny Tapia, boxing’s wild man, brings his fistic talents to London’s East End tonight when he meets Argentina’s Eduardo Alvarez at York Hall, Bethnal Green.