Focused Egan leads Irish trio into battle
All three will be in action tonight for the right to represent Ireland in Beijing and it will be surprising if at least one of the trio does not get through.
Kenneth Egan now finds himself just one fight away from a seat on that flight to China next summer.
The Dubliner, at 25, is not the oldest member of the team but he has been campaigning at this level for longer than anyone else in the squad and has been to the quarter finals before.
He was barely 18 when he won the first of his seven national senior titles, was a bronze medallist at the European Championships in Pula last year and has a whole set of medals — including two gold — from the European Union championships but he admitted past performances count for nothing at the World Championships.
“It’s great to win a medal and all that but Olympic qualification is what this all about,” said Egan.
To achieve that he has to beat the Croatian, Manjo Sivolijo, tonight.
“Kenny is our most experienced boxer. He is very professional and he will not leave anything to chance,” said High Performance Director, Gary Keegan.
Since the High Performance squad was established with funding from the Irish Sports Council, Egan has been team leader; the cheerleader and inspiration for the younger boxers coming through. He is the role model.
“If he is going to be beaten it will be by a better boxer. It won’t be as a result of any deficiency in Kenny’s performance because he is a perfectionist inside and outside the ring,” Keegan said.
He had been up all night with a fever before he went into the ring to outclass Julius Jackson (Virgin Islands) on the 20-point rule in his opening contest and then, on Sunday night, he beat a difficult light heavyweight from Ecuador, Jako Castillo Torres, 16-10 with a very controlled performance.
The Croatian is different because they know each other so well. Egan had him on the floor and beat him by 10 points en route to the gold medal at the EU championships in Sardinia three years ago.
Since then, however, Sivoliga, won a silver medal at the world championships in Mianyang in 2005, losing narrowly to Yerdos Dzhanabergenov of Kazakhstan in the final.
Paddy Barnes could be the sensation of this tournament from an Irish point of view. The bubbly light fly has taken everything in his stride.
His punching has been immaculate — beating North Korea’s Kuk Chol Jon 33-19 and stopping Iran’s Sadagh Farraj Zade on the 20-point rule with 48 seconds left in the third round.
“It’s all been going very well for me out here,” the 20-year old Belfast man said. “But it is all down to the High Performance squad and the training camps. After the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, I made up my mind that I was going to get to the World Championships — box the best in the world — and here I am. I’m enjoying it.”
Kenji Ohkebo (Japan) will provide the opposition tonight after he beat Winston Montero (Dominican Republic) 23-9 on Sunday night but there was nothing in that performance to indicate that Barnes cannot spring another “surprise”.
Eric Donovan would appear to have the most difficult assignment.
Now the only survivor of the four boxers from the Athy club in the squad, he meets Domenico Valentino of Italy tonight.
After stepping up from feather, it was against the Italian that he made his debut at lightweight in the EU championships at the National Stadium and it was not a performance to dwell on as he lost on the 20-point rule.
“I have become a more formidable lightweight since then,” Donovan insisted. “I have put on muscle and I am still very comfortable at the weight.”
Out here he was devastating against a highly-rated Hungarian, Miklos Varga, beating him 39-22 and then, against Jonathan Batitsta (Dominican Republic) he cruised through 21-4 on Sunday.
Since losing their first-round contests, the Joyce cousins, David Oliver and John Joe, flyweight Conor Ahern, welterweight Roy Sheahan and super heavy Cathal McMonagle have been back in full training — running and gym work — under strength and conditioning expert, John Cleary.
They are already into their preparations for the European qualifiers, to be staged in Italy from February 24 to March 2, and Greece from April 7-14.
From Europe eight boxers will qualify for the Olympics from light fly to welter, nine from middle to light heavy and seven from heavy to super heavy.
Meanwhile world and treble European champion, Katie Taylor, arrived in Chicago on Monday for her exhibition contest which will be staged during Saturday’s finals with a view to having it included in the Olympics.
She will concede weight to the Pan-American Games champion, Katie Dunn (Canada) in one of two special contests.
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