A night of drama at the National Stadium last night in the 2013 Elite National Championships, the birth of a new legend, the end of another as the great light-heavyweight Kenneth Egan, seeking a record 11th title in a record 13 consecutive final appearances, was forced to give way for the third year in succession to the more powerful teenager, Joe Ward.

Kenny Egan set the scene for next Friday night’s showdown with Joe Ward in the finals of the Elite National Senior Boxing Championships with a short route victory over Westport’s Eamon Walsh (St Anne’s) in Saturday night’s light heavyweight semi-final at the National Stadium.

JOE WARD may have a pocketful of gold medals — world junior, world youths, European senior and a national senior gold — but tonight he climbs into the ring with fellow Westmeath man Davy Joe Joyce to decide his Olympic future.

KENNY EGAN kept his Olympic dream alive with an emphatic victory over fellow Dubliner Michael Frayne (St. Mary’s) in the Elite Boxing Championship quarter-finals at the National Stadium on Saturday night.

THE Elite national senior boxing championships got under way at the National Stadium last night when an action-packed programme featured eight welterweight contests involving some of the best boxers in the world.

RORY O’DONOGHUE (Watergrasshill BC) has been handed the opportunity of a lifetime ahead of tomorrow night’s visit of the NYPD boxing team to the Green Glens Arena in Millstreet with the news he has been chosen to replace national champion Adam Nolan (Bray) in the featured welterweight contest with Beijing Olympian John Joe Joyce (St. Michael’s, Athy).

BIG-TIME boxing returns to the Green Glens Arena in Millstreet on December 10 when Rylane Boxing Club combine with the Garda Boxing Club to stage a show that will be built around the annual visit of the NYPD to box a Garda selection.

JOHN JOE NEVIN arrived back in Dublin last evening with a second bronze medal from the world boxing championships to add to his treasure chest back home in Mullingar and insisting his only regret was not making the final in Baku.

JOHN JOE NEVIN bowed out of the World Boxing Championships in Baku yesterday after losing his bantamweight semi-final against Luke Campbell on a countback after the judges’ scoring tied the pair at 12 points apiece at end of three thrilling rounds.

BAKU delivered us some memorable images this week. Not least when Marty Morrissey, bearing the fixed grin of a man who knew what he was talking about, assured us that the Azerbaijani capital was “a romantic city, full of love”.

HAVING already made history by becoming the first Irishman to win two medals at the World Championships, John Joe Nevin wants to cash in his bronze medal for at least a silver when he goes in against Englishman Luke Campbell in today’s bantamweight semi-final in Baku.

HIGH Performance coach Billy Walsh set a target of three qualifiers for next year’s Olympic Games going into the World Boxing Championships in Baku and that was achieved yesterday with last 16 victories for Darren O’Neill, John Joe Nevin and Belfast teenager Michael Conlon.

KENNY EGAN’S hopes of a second Olympics appearance were dented yesterday when he retired a minute into the third round of his World Championship heavyweight debut in Baku.

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.

ROY SHEAHAN, St Michael’s (Athy), got his World Championship campaign off to the perfect start when posting an impressive 15-10 victory over Carl Hield (Bahamas) in Baku yesterday and his next opponent, Borna Katalinic (Croatia) is a man he has beaten twice previously.

WELTERWEIGHT Roy Sheahan steps into the ring against Carl Hield (Bahamas) in Baku today admitting he is more “excited about these world championships than I have been about any other tournament in my life”.

MICHAEL CONLAN got Ireland off to a flying start at the World Boxing Championships in Baku yesterday when he thrashed European bronze medallist Alexandr Riscan (Moldova) 25-12 in a thrilling flyweight contest.

OLYMPIC silver medallist Kenny Egan has drawn tough opposition for his heavyweight debut at the world championships in Baku.

THE Boxing Council of the IABA selected Michael O’Reilly (Portlaoise) on the Irish team for the European Youth Championships which commence in the City West Convention Centre today.

THE Boxing Council of the IABA will meet at 11am today to select a team for the World Championships while the boxers settle into their training camp in Assisi alongside Olympic hopefuls from Italy, Ukraine and Azerbaijan.

KENNY EGAN booked his place on Irish team for the World Championships in Baku with a 13-5 victory over Antrim heavyweight Stephen Ward, in the finals of the box-off on Saturday.

KENNY EGAN took a major step towards the world championships and, ultimately, next year’s London Olympics when he outpointed Tommy McCarthy (Oliver Plunkett BC) in a heavyweight semi-final that had its share of controversy at last night’s box-offs at the National Stadium.

THIS may have been a box-off to select the team for the world championships and the first opportunity to qualify for next year’s Olympic Games but none of the recent medallists were in sight when the tournament got under way last night at the National Stadium.

CON SHEEHAN (Clonmel BC),the defending champion, andthe new pretender to the throne, Tommy McCarthy (Oliver Plunkett, Belfast), served up the best performance of an action packed weekend when they met in the quarter finals of the heavyweight division at the Elite national boxing championships at the National Stadium on Saturday night.

JOHN JOE Joyce faces a really tough assignment in defence of his welterweight crown when the National senior boxing championships get underway at the National Stadium tonight.

KENNY EGAN may have an Olympic silver medal but Ireland’s most decorated boxer of thisgeneration will face a difficultassignment in his quest for asensational 11th successive national senior title.

John Joe Joyce beat Roy Sheahan 10-2 in an all St Michael's Athy welterweight semi-final at the Irish Daily Star sponsored Elite National Championships at the National Stadium in Dublin tonight.

KENNY EGAN has put past problems behind him to chase a record 10th successive national senior title at the Elite Boxing Championships which gets under way at the National Stadium tonight.

HEAD coach Billy Walsh is convinced he has the talent to better the three-medal haul from Liverpool when he takes his team to the European Championships in Moscow next June.

JOHN JOE JOYCE impressed on his move into the welterweight division when he outpointed Golden Gloves champion, Quintin Fortune of the NYPD, at the Rochestown Park Hotel in Cork on Saturday night, where a Garda/Rylane Boxing Club selection hosted team from the New York Police Department at a sell-out dinner show.

ROY SHEAHAN (St Michael’s, Athy) will have the ideal opportunity to get his international career back on track when he guests for the Garda/Rylane selection against the New York Police Department in a sell-out dinner show at the Rochestown Park Hotel, Cork on Saturday night.

Willie McLaughlin and Ken Egan progressed to the last 16 of the AIBA World Senior Championships following impressive wins in Milan this afternoon.

THE battle for Irish boxing’s light welterweight division takes place at the National Stadium tonight when Philip Sutcliffe (Crumlin) bids to cement his position at the top and a place in the team for the world boxing championships in Milan next September.

A six-strong Irish senior squad departed from Dublin airport this morning ahead of the Shkodra Memorial Cup which gloves off in Tirana, Albania tomorrow.

Ireland recorded an 8-2 win over Team USA at the Arch Centre in Athy tonight.

WITH his nine successive national senior titles secured and his place in the history books assured, Olympic silver medallist Kenneth Egan will step outside the comfort zone of domestic boxing tonight to take on Fiju Shabazz when Ireland host the United States at the National Stadium (7.30pm).

KENNETH EGAN is within one victory of a spectacular ninth successive national senior title following last night’s comprehensive defeat of Denis Hogan (Grangecon) in the first light heavyweight semi-final at the National Stadium.

Ken Egan moved to within one fight of winning his ninth Irish senior title in a row following a 16-3 semi-final win over Denis Hogan at the Elite National Senior Championships at the National Stadium in Dublin tonight.

KENNY EGAN will make his first public appearance in the ring since Beijing in the semi-finals of the national senior championships tonight at the National Stadium.

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.

THERE is no big secret to the success of Irish boxing — just hard work, commitment, dedication and good coaching to develop the talent coming through the system — according to the President of the IABA, Dominic O’Rourke, who promised that there was more to come.

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.

THE Olympic medallists may be missing from the line-up but Ireland’s boxers maintained their run of good form at the European boxing championships in Liverpool with three more big wins yesterday.

John Joe Joyce cruised into the quarter finals of the 37th European Senior Championships following a comfortable 20-3 win over Scottish light welterweight John Tain at the Greenbank Academy in Liverpool this afternoon.