Ireland to face bruising test from powerful Russians
While the pairings have yet to be decided, it has been confirmed Russia will have two boxers in the lightweight division in their nine-man team with representatives at featherweight, light welter, welterweight, middleweight, light heavy, heavyweight and super heavy.
Irish boxing chiefs the IABA has built a good relationship with the Russian federation in recent years and Irish boxers are set to train with them in advance of this year’s world championships as well as next year’s Olympic games.
Meanwhile, Ireland will have a strong team at the GeeBee Multi Nations tournament which gets underway in Helsinki today and concludes at the weekend.
Conor Ahern (Baldoyle), Ryan Lindberg (Immaculata, Belfast), David Oliver Joyce (St Michael’s Athy), Ciaran Bates (St Mary’s Dublin), Aodh Carlyle (Golden Cobra), Darren Sutherland (St Saviours OBA), John Sweeney (Dungloe), and Cathal McMonagle (Holy Trinity, Belfast), make up the squad which is under the management of Paul McMahon and coaches Billy Walsh and Zuar Antia, with Brian O’Connell travelling as physio and Thomas McGaharan as referee/judge.
Nine Irish boxers are included on the men’s and women’s World and European rankings just published.
Middleweight Darren Sutherland, from St Saviours club in Dublin, is the biggest mover and is now ranked at number three in the middleweight division.
His injured Irish teammate Darren O’Neill (Paulstown, Kilkenny), who missed out on the Irish championships and a shot at Sutherland’s title, drops one place to number eight.
Neilstown’s Kenneth Egan, a European bronze medallist, remains at fourth in the light heavyweight category while Baldoyle flyweight Conor Ahern is at 17.
The St Michael’s Athy trio of John Joe Joyce, David Oliver Joyce, and Eric Donovan also feature.
John Joe Joyce — who has since moved up to light welterweight — is at number 10 in the lightweight division, while David Oliver Joyce and Eric Donovan are ranked 13th and 17th in the featherweight division.
Reigning World and European lightweight champion Katie Taylor (St Fergal’s Bray) remains at number one in the world for the fifth month running while her Irish teammate Alanna Murphy (Eastside, Belfast) is at number five in the light welterweight Division.
