PRESIDENT of the IABA, Dominic O’Rourke has described the decision of the Italians to withdraw from Sunday night’s boxing international in Belfast after four bouts as extremely unsporting and totally unnecessary.

TWO years ago Kenneth Egan was at a crossroads in his boxing career after a disappointing performance at the world championships in Chicago while qualification for the Olympics still eluded him.

THREE European championship medallists, one of whom is an Olympian, and two national champions have missed out as the Irish team that departs today for a training camp ahead of next month’s world amateur boxing championships in Milan was named.

IRISH boxing chief Dominic O’Rourke is confident the Irish Amateur Boxing Association (IABA) will be given the opportunity to host the AIBA 2011 World Championships in Dublin.

Tributes were today paid to three Irish boxers who touched down on home soil clutching bronze medals.

ROSS HICKEY and Eamon O’Kane both took bronze medals from the European championships in Liverpool last night as Ireland repeated the haul from the Europeans in Madrid in 1971 when flyweight, Neil McLaughlin, bantamweight Mick Dowling and featherweight Brendan McCarthy all took medals.

IRELAND will have three boxers in semi-final action at today’s European Championships in Liverpool after big quarter-final wins for Olympic light welterweight John Joe Joyce and debutant Eamon O’Kane last night.

DAVID OLIVER JOYCE, his cousin John Joe Joyce, Belfast middleweight, Eamonn O’Kane and 20-year-old Clonmel heavyweight Con Sheehan will all be battling for medals and semi-final places at the European Boxing Championships in Liverpool today.

JOHN Joe Joyce moved within one bout of a place on the Irish team for next month’s European Championships in Liverpool following a convincing win over Philip Sutcliffe in the semi-finals of the Open Senior Competition at the National Stadium in Dublin on Saturday night.

DARREN SUTHERLAND has gone back to his roots in defence of his national senior middleweight title and he cannot believe that some people have written him off in advance of the anticipated showdown between himself and Darren O’Neill in the finals of the national senior championships at the National Stadium tomorrow night.

ERIC DONOVAN (St Michael’s Athy) who surrendered his featherweight title to clubmate, David Oliver Joyce, at this year’s national senior championships makes a significant move up the weights over the coming weekend when Ireland face Russia in back to back matches.

KENNETH EGAN took just 22 seconds to claim his seventh successive national senior title — his fifth at light heavyweight — and he immediately turned his attentions to qualification for next year’s Olympic Games after overwhelming Willie Mitchell in what was the mismatch of the night at the national senior championship finals at the National Stadium last night.

WITH no light heavyweights in action, five holders will take the defence of their titles to the penultimate stage when the semi-finals of the national senior boxing championships get underway at the National Stadium tonight.

KENNETH EGAN (Neilstown) will face a Hungarian opponent tomorrow afternoon in his quest for a medal at the European Union Boxing Championships in Arborea, Sardinia.

ANDY LEE will be the star attraction again when he defends his middleweight title at the finals of the national championships in the National Stadium tonight.

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.

THE Irish boxers – all with their sights on Olympic qualification - arrived in Cork last evening for the Multi-Nations Tournament at the Rochestown Park Hotel tonight (7.30 pm), hoping for some sort of recognition for their achievements over the past year.

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.