JOHN JOE JOYCE (St. Michael’s, Athy) faces a showdown with reigning light welterweight champion Aodh Carlyle at the National Stadium tomorrow with a place on the Irish team for the EU boxing championships the prize.

The Irish Amateur Boxing Association (IABA) have arranged a specially convened bout to decide the one remaining place on the Irish team for the European Union Championships which will take place at the National Stadium in Dublin next month. (June 17th to 25th).

THE powerful Russians will visit Ireland a the end of the month to box two internationals, one at the National Stadium on April 27 and the other at Athlone IT on April 29.

Ireland will take on Russia in two internationals at the end of this month the Irish Amateur Boxing Association have confirmed.

HIGH Performance Director, Gary Keegan, will be awaiting the results of a meeting in Thailand this week when boxing’s world governing body, AIBA, could decide a new venue for the World Championships, which take place later this year.

THE Irish Amateur Boxing Association (IABA) have named an eight man squad of national senior champions for the Geebee Multi Nations in Finland next month.

The Irish Amateur Boxing Association today named a six-man squad for the Felkis Stamm Senior Multi Nations tournament which will take place in Poland later this month.

DARREN SUTHERLAND packed eight months of frustration into five minutes of boxing last night before he stopped Eddie Healy (Portlaoise) midway through the third round of the middleweight semi-final at the National Stadium.

DAVID BARRETT (Rylane) bids to emulate older brother Seanie by winning the light welterweight title at the Irish intermediate boxing championship finals at the National Stadium tonight.

WITH Limerick southpaw Andy Lee safely through to the Olympics, the remainder of Ireland’s Athens boxing hopefuls are currently training in Heidelberg in advance of next week’s qualifying tournaments in Plovdiv, Bulgaria and Warsaw.

WINNING an Adidas Belt at the Box Cup Tournament in Hamburg may not have compensated James Moore for the loss of his national senior crown but the performance, coupled with the defeat of his conqueror, Henry Coyle, in Helsinki over the weekend, has re-ignited his hopes of Olympic qualification.

THOMAS LEE (Oughterard) and Eric Donovan (St Michael’s, Athy), members of the Irish team for the multi-nations tournament in Cork, will be in action at the national under-21 boxing championships finals at the National Stadium tonight, while a third member of the squad, Conor Ahern (Baldoyle), gets a walkover in the light flyweight division.

IRISH boxers face a busy week ahead with both the senior and junior champions in action abroad and the number twos in action against Wales in the first major international of the year at the National Stadium tonight.

ANDY LEE (St. Francis, Limerick) claimed his first National Senior Championship title by doing what had to be done at the National Stadium last night when he out-pointed Eamon O’Kane (St. Canices) 27-12 in the eagerly awaited Middleweight final.

ANDY LEE (St Francis) will be back in action at the National Stadium tomorrow night when the AIBA stage an action-packed international programme involving Germany at boys and junior level and Belgium at senior level, with 13 bouts in all down for decision.