THE Irish boxers head into the second and final week of the world boxing championships in Baku with nine members of the 10-man team still standing and the prospect of Olympic qualification looming midweek.

WHEN the high octane meeting of the IABA’s Boxing Council ended on Saturday at the National Stadium one was left wondering how the paranoia had been allowed to fester during the previous week’s tournament in Dublin.

DARREN O’NEILL will miss the Open Tournament which will be held at the National Stadium over the coming two weekends to help select the Irish boxing team for the world championships in Milan in September.

DARREN SUTHERLAND (St Saviours OBA) strengthened his Olympic qualification hopes with a 15-8 victory over arch-rival, Darren O’Neill (Paulstown) in an action-packed middleweight final at the National Stadium on Saturday.

DARREN O’NEILL may have put what seemed like the perfect finishing touch to his preparations for this weekend’s box-off against Darren Sutherland when he won another gold medal at the multi-nations tournament in Zagreb but he admitted yesterday his preparations for the big rematch have not been perfect.

BILLY WALSH admitted yesterday that he was irked by the suggestion from Belfast opponent James Gorman that he only had temporary custody of the All-Ireland welterweight championship belt.

THE IRISH boxing team have taken their preparations for the world championships to a new level at a training camp in France.

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 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.

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.

KENNETH EGAN (Neilstown), gold medallist at the recent Tammer Tournament in Tampere, Finland, will be back in action at The National Stadium tonight when Ireland entertain Holland in a contest that will cater for schoolboys, cadets and juniors as well as seniors.