By the time the final bell rings on her professional debut tonight, Katie Taylor hopes that talk of Rio will be firmly in her past.

The beaming smile was on Michael Conlan’s face before he even ducked between the ropes for his first Olympic contest.

Darren O’Neill is no stranger to adversity and hardship. For years he was landed with the label of Irish boxing’s bridesmaid.

Two-time Olympic bronze medallist Paddy Barnes has predicted that Ireland’s boxers will kick on from their exceptional four-medal performance in London four years ago and return from Rio later this year with an even bigger haul.

Kenneth Egan fears the departure of Billy Walsh from Irish boxing could rock Irish boxing’s coaching structures as the Olympic silver medallist insisted a coherent, long-term succession plan must be put in place.

Andy Lee is hoping to make a November ring return after narrowly missing out on a world title shot against Miguel Cotto.

Nine months on from her golden summer at the Olympics in London, and boxer Katie Taylor’s star shines ever brighter in the eyes of the adoring Irish public.

The bond between a boxer and his coach is one forged in sweat and blood over countless training sessions.

Billy Walsh has confirmed he will take Ireland’s elite boxers to the 2016 Olympic Games but the Wexford coach has warned more funding is required to build on the successes of Beijing and London.

Michael Carruth has said he expects to see Billy Walsh and Zaur Antia re-appointed to their positions as head coach and technical coach of boxing’s High Performance Unit, but only after “a bit of niggling”.

Boxer Katie Taylor has received a number of offers to turn professional following her historic Olympic gold medal win in London earlier this month.

Billy Walsh has promised that anything that can be done to keep Katie Taylor within boxing’s amateur ranks and on course for another shot at Olympic gold in four years’ time will be done.

Olympic silver medallist John Joe Nevin insisted yesterday that Irish boxing cannot afford to lose coaches Billy Walsh or Zaur Antia and that everything possible should be done to keep the high performance team together.

Irish plans for the Olympic Games in Rio have been ongoing since early this year, according to the Irish Sports Council’s performance director Finbarr Kirwan.

Michael Conlan was fancied for a medal at these Olympics ever since he qualified at the world championships in Baku last November, when he was beaten by Andy Selby by just one point.

Women’s boxing at London 2012 was all about Katie Taylor and yesterday the woman who played such a big role in getting it added to the Olympic programme was rewarded by having a gold medal hung round her neck.

Seconds out, round one over but the real fight is still to come.

An emotional John Joe Nevin claimed Ireland’s first Olympic medal from London 2012 last night and immediately dedicated it to his cousin, David, who died from a heart attack last February aged just 25.

John Joe Nevin became the first Irish boxer to qualify for a medal fight at London 2012 with a masterful display at the ExCel yesterday when he outpointed Kanat Abutalipov (Kazakhstan) 15-10 for a place in Sunday night’s quarter-finals.

Just one boxer stands between Katie Taylor and a fourth successive world title after another thrilling day for the Irish at the women’s world boxing championships in Qinhuangdao yesterday.

Katie Taylor took her first step towards London 2012 qualification with an emphatic 19-6 victory over Tunisian Rim Jouini at the women’s world championships in the Chinese city of Qinhuangdao yesterday.

With Katie Taylor preparing to glove up for her shot at Olympic qualification this morning (7am Irish time), flyweight Ceire Smith moved excitingly close to a place in the London Games by claiming a second victory at the Women’s World boxing championships in Quinhuangdao, China, yesterday.

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”.

FINBARR KIRWAN, High Performance Director with the Irish Sports Council (ISC), praised not only the achievement of the Irish boxers at the European championships in Moscow but their commitment, the preparations and the team that masterminded the record medal haul.

EMPHATIC quarter-final victories for Olympic bronze medallist Paddy Barnes and Athy lightweight Eric Donovan mean Ireland is assured of five bronze medals, with the opportunity to cash them in for silver, at least, in tomorrow’s semi-finals at the European Senior Boxing Championships in Moscow.

JOHN JOE NEVIN returns home tomorrow with a bronze medal from the world boxing championships after failing by just a single point in his bid to convert it to silver.

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.

WHEN the Irish team assembled at O’Hare Airport for the return flight to Dublin after the world championships the atmosphere in the camp was one of tension as well as disappointment.

Funeral processions snaked through Beslan today as relatives buried the first victims of the Russian school siege, while frantic parents still searched for missing children two days after the crisis erupted into violence that left more than 350 people dead.

Families wracked with grief crowded into a freshly turned field next to the cemetery in Beslan today to bury loved ones killed in the school hostage seizure.

Wails of mourning echoed through the streets of Beslan today, and the region’s top police officer reportedly resigned in the wake of the school hostage taking that left more than 350 people dead.

Holding up the corpse of a man just shot dead in front of hundreds of hostages at a Russian school, the rebel – his pockets stuffed with ammunition and grenades – warned: “If a child utters even a sound, we’ll kill another one.”