Joyce first up as Irish get ‘fair’ world draw

WITH John Joe Joyce set to get the show on the road in the early hours of today Irish time, the Irish boxing team were last night perusing what High Performance Director, Gary Keegan, described as a ‘fair’ draw for the world championships in Chicago.

While there are no easy draws, the principals, welterweight Roy Sheahan, middleweight Darren Sutherland and light heavyweight Kenneth Egan, were all happy with the outcome of the new computerised system.

It paired light flyweight, Paddy Barnes from Belfast, with a little-known Korean, Kuk Chol Jon, for his opening contest, which was originally scheduled for yesterday afternoon but which was chopped later in the day.

Flyweight, Conor Ahern, has a tough assignment against the No 3 in the world, Bato-Munko Vankeyeu from Hungary, while the newly-crowned national bantamweight champion, Ryan Lindberg, meets McJoe Arroyo from Puerto Rico for his world championship debut.

Featherweight David Oliver Joyce will relish the challenge from Davi Souza, a rough and tumble Brazilian ranked 14th in the world.

Joyce’s clubmate, lightweight Eric Donovan, faces a huge assignment against Miklos Varga from Hungary although, after that, the winner will have a relatively easy opponent from either the Dominican Republic or Israel.

Roy Sheahan meets a Korean, Sang-in Han, for his opener while Darren Sutherland should have the measure of Roy Albert Cooke from Dominica for the right to meet either a Swede or an Armenian.

Kenneth Egan has what would appear a relatively easy assignment against Julius Jackson from the Virgin Islands for the right to meet either a Greek or a boxer from Ecuador with a place in the quarter finals at stake.

The heavier weights were not so lucky. John Sweeney will have a tough contest against Branko Srdic from Serbia and while super heavyweight Cathal McMonagle got a bye into the second round, he comes up against the European champion and No 2 in the world, Islam Timurziev of Russia.

“I am happy enough with Roy (Sheahan), Darren (Sutherland) and Kenneth (Egan),” Gary Keegan said. “Roy has drawn the Korean and then we have Hungary or Azerbaijan and we sparred the Azerbaijan boxer so we know what he is like. We just have to get past the Korean first.

“At 75Kg Darren has drawn the Dominican, Armenia and Sweden and Armenia will be the bogey match there but it looks like two bouts for those two to the quarter finals.

“Ken meets the Virgin Islands in his first contest and then he runs into Uruguay or Ecuador so again two contests to his quarter finals.

“Down the weights, Eric (Donovan) has a Hungarian for his first contest and then the Dominican Republic or Israel.

“At 57 we are happy — David Olive Joyce has Brazil for first contest and then Peru or a Czech.

“At 51kg Conor (Ahern) meets the Belarussian who was a silver medallist last time around — a tough opponent.

“Paddy Barnes has a North Korean for his first contest and they are durable at that weight division.”

John Joe Joyce was set to renew rivalry with Ugula Kate from Hungary in his opener. When the pair met in the EU championships in Dublin, Joyce was three points up when he got a public warning in the third round and eventually lost by a couple.

Today: Light Welter: John Joe Joyce v Agula Kate (Hungary). Featherweight: Eric Donovan v Miklos Varga (Hungary). Middleweight: Darren Sutherland v Roy Albert Cooke (Dominica).

Tomorrow: Light Fly: Paddy Barnes v Kuk Chol Jon (N Korea). Flyweight: Conor Ahern v Bato Vankeyev (Belarus). Lightweight: Eric Donovan v Miklos Varga (Hungary). Welterweight: Roy Sheahan v Sang-in Han (Korea). Light Heavy: Kenneth Egan v Juilius Jackson (Virgin Islands).

Friday: Bantamweight: Ryan Lindberg v McJoe Arroyo (Puerto Rico). Heavyweight: John Sweeney v Branko Srdjc (Serbia).

Saturday: Super Heavyweight: Cathal McMonagle v Islam Timurziev (Russia).