Assault puts John Joe Nevin out of action until September
His youth coach Brian McKeown said the Mullingar champ had a “bone sticking out of his leg” as a result of the attack, with his leg broken in two places.
Gardaí are investigating if the Saturday morning assault in Mullingar, Co Westmeath, was part of an internal feud within Nevin’s extended family.
Nevin, who won silver at the 2012 London Olympics, turned professional last October, with GreenBlood of Philadelphia and Berkeley Sports and Media of Britain.
Tom Moran of GreenBlood, an ex-manager to Tim Witherspoon, said they hope to have the 25-year-old back in the ring in September.
“Our schedule has been thrown off by a few months, but hopefully we’ll have John Joe back working hard by mid-summer and have him fighting again stateside in September,” he said.
“We were hoping to get John Joe headlining a card in Ireland in the fall, but we may have to push that back some now because the big push is making him a major attraction in the Irish American audience.
“We have talks about New York, Boston and Philadelphia fights so we’ll keep working on it,” said Mr Moran.
Detectives are examining reports that a golf club was used in the assault. Two other people were injured, including a woman who received stab wounds from a screwdriver.
A man, in his 20s, was arrested later by gardaí and questioned until yesterday. He was released and gardaí will send a file to the DPP.
Mr McKeown said Nevin told him he had gone to “mediate in a dispute between family members” when he was turned on.
Nevin was assaulted outside a house in Ardleigh Crescent estate. He was taken to Mullingar Hospital and transferred to Tullamore Hospital.
Mr McKeown said he spoke to Nevin after the attack: “No doubt that John Joe will be back, he has been a fighter all his life and he will be back . . . I have no doubt of that.
“He was due to fight again next month in Nevada City, but it was a sad day. I was in Dublin when he rang me from the garden of the house, he was waiting for the ambulance at that time, but the leg is broke in two places you could see the bone sticking out of his leg, so it is not good.”
Mr McKeown, a Sinn Féin councillor in Cavan, could not confirm golf clubs were used in the assault.
“He told me he had went to the house in the Ardleigh housing estate at about 10am on Saturday to mediate in a dispute between family members which he was not involved in, when, it looks like they turned on him.
“It’s an awful pity. We were just planning a big day in the summer in Mullingar GAA grounds with music, but that will not go ahead now.”
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