Star turns focus to completing an Italian job on Valentino

ERIC DONOVAN was handed the featherweight berth on the Irish team for the European Union Boxing Championships when his clubmate, John Joe Joyce, moved up to welterweight, and now he wants to create the sensation of the tournament when he meets the three-time champion, Domenico Valentino of Italy, in his quarter-final bout at the National Stadium tomorrow.

The 21-year-old Kildare man was stripped of his bantamweight title by another clubmate, David Oliver Joyce, at this year’s senior championships, then stepped up a division and proved yesterday that he can be every bit as effective at his new weight when he stopped Osama Hadifi of Denmark on the 20-point rule in the third round of his opening contest.

It was a devastating performance and now he just can’t wait to meet the Italian, whom he beat as a junior when Ireland boxed Italy in a junior international at the National Stadium.