Handling our boxers with care on the road to Rio

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

Our man in New York, John O’Riordan, has written about Conor McGregor already this week so there is no need for those of you for whom the sight and sound of ‘The Notorious’ is akin to fingernails on a blackboard to worry. This is not another column about the UFC’s newest poster boy.

Like John, though, this column was somewhat taken aback to see McGregor pop up at intervals during coverage of Sunday’s NFL game on Fox between Green Bay and Seattle. There he was, sporting the sort of flat cap and tweed that would slot snugly into a scene from ‘The Quiet Man’, and bad-mouthing opponent Dennis Siver.