Reigning welterweight champion Kieran Molloy takes on precocious challenger Patrick Donovan in what looks a certain show-stealer at this year’s National Elite Finals.

Galway middleweight Gabriel Dossen insists he’s still not the finished product despite eliminating a defending champion at the National Elite Championships at the National Stadium on Saturday night.

Argentina’s Victoria Bustos has been confirmed as Katie Taylor’s opponent for a title unification bout in New York.

Bernard Dunne, the Irish Athletic Boxing Association’s high-performance director, is unperturbed about a supposed talent drain from Irish boxing. Instead, he insists a fresh team are already on course for great things, writes Brendan O’Brien.

Joe Ward’s quest for World Elite gold ended at the hands of a familiar foe in Hamburg, Germany on Saturday night, but the Westmeath southpaw reckons time is on his side.

Joe Ward is the only Irish boxer left standing at the AIBA World Elite Championships after cruising to within one win of a third successive medal at this level in Hamburg, Germany.

Seán McComb believes he could be hitting form at the right time after getting Ireland back on track at the World Championships last night.

Zaur Antia claims he has not set a minimum medals tally for Team Ireland at the World Championships, insisting the squad will maintain their “one-fight-at-a-time” approach to the competition.

Dean Gardiner comes across as the kind of guy who greets triumph and disaster with much the same shrug of the shoulders.

Performances in the ring will ultimately dictate whether Bernard Dunne’s remit as Irish amateur boxing’s high performance director is a success but the former world champion has already recorded a pair of notable successes outside the ropes.

Sean McComb is putting his trust in Irish head coach Zaur Antia and team after sensationally beating Russia’s World Elite light-welter champion Vitaly Dunaystev to qualify for the World Championships from the European Championships in Kharkiv, Ukraine yesterday.

A member of the Irish Athletic Boxing Association’s divided Board of Directors has predicted that a dispute between the organisation’s two warring factions will end up in court.

Punches were finally thrown in the ring at the National Stadium last night as a mooted box-off to decide Ireland’s super-heavyweight representative at next month’s European Championships resulted in a split-decision victory for Dean Gardiner.

Earlier this week, a box-off to decide Ireland’s super-heavyweight representative for next month’s European Championships was mooted to take place this evening. Instead of that fight taking centre stage, Irish boxing has been hit by yet another crisis — one which could last a far longer distance than the three rounds originally expected to be contested between Martin Keenan and Dean Gardiner at the National Stadium.

St Francis BC coach Ken Moore hailed Tommy Casey and Myles Casey after last night’s Limerick v Antrim showdowns at the National Elite Championships in Dublin in an emotional week for the Shannonsiders.

Michael O’Reilly is one win away from securing his Olympic place in Baku, while Dean Gardiner also kept his Rio dream alive with a surprise victory yesterday.

Irish head coach Zaur Antia believes Michael O’Reilly and Dean Gardiner can take another step towards Olympic qualification tonight after Darren O’Neill’s dream of reaching a second Games ended yesterday.

Six of tonight’s 10 finals at the National Elite Championships are likely to have an impact on Olympic ambitions ahead of the Rio 2016 Games.

Irish light-heavyweight Joe Ward eased into the last-16 of the European Elite Championships in Samokov, Bulgaria yesterday, but Dean Gardiner is out.

Brendan Irvine battled from behind to land Ireland’s first ever European games medal in Baku, Azerbaijan, yesterday.

Routes to Olympic qualification continue to multiply but that isn’t to say that getting there is any easier, writes Brendan O’Brien.

Boxing

Italia Thunder have drafted Ireland’s London 2012 bronze medallists Paddy Barnes and Michael Conlan into their squad for the 2015 World Series of Boxing (WSB) season.

Ireland’s Elite boxers are guaranteed at least three bronze medals at the European Union Elite Championships after recording a hat-trick of quarter-final wins in Bulgaria yesterday.

Ireland has seven boxers through to the last-eight of the European Union Elite Men’s Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria.

An eight-strong Ireland team has been named for the 2014 European Union Men’s Elite Championships in Bulgaria which starts on Friday.

Andy Lee blamed ring-rust for his underwhelming performance against Frank Horta but is now hoping to seal a world title shot at light-middleweight before the end of the year.

London 2012 Olympian Darren O’Neill has dismissed all talk of “high fives” ahead of his middleweight final with Portlaoise BC prospect Michael O’Reilly at the Elite National Championships.

London 2012 Olympians Adam Nolan and Darren O’Neill both won their semi-finals at the National Elite Championships at Dublin’s National Stadium last night.

London Olympian Adam Nolan admitted he ‘fell asleep’ in the second round of Saturday’s welterweight quarter-final at the National Elite Championships at Dublin’s National Stadium.

Derval O’Rourke and Ciarán Ó Lionáird have expressed disappointment at the level of funding they are set to receive in 2014.