Furey set for call on eligibility

TYSON FUREY will discover this morning if he can contest the Irish National Boxing Championship at the National Stadium.

Furey, one of the most exciting prospects in amateur boxing, won a silver medal at the world junior championships and a bronze from the European junior championships before deciding to switch allegiances from England to Ireland.

However the 19-year-old, whose parents hail from Galway, must produce the necessary documentation to allow him compete this week

Towering at 6’4” he has been sensational since arriving at the Holy Family/Golden Gloves club in Belfast where he has had a seven-month residency. Another five months and he will automatically qualify to compete for Ireland.

If he wins a national title he will certainly add an interesting dimension to the Olympic qualifiers which get under way next month.

At 19 he is still relatively young — some might hold too young — for the super heavyweight division but he will certainly be ready for London 2012. At the moment there are five entries at super-heavyweight for the championships which get under way at 6.30pm today with 17 preliminary contests. Boxing will continue each evening at 6.30pm with the finals at 8pm on Friday night.

There are 76 entries in total although more could be accepted at the scales and of those 16 are at heavyweight.

“That division is certainly in a healthy state,” High Performance Director, Gary Keegan, insisted. “I can’t remember having so many entries in that division.”

There is an entry of eight at middleweight where the focus will be on Darren Sutherland, going for his third senior title, and Darren O’Neill, seeking his first.

David Oliver Joyce can expect a big challenge from Carl Frampton for the featherweight title. When Joyce was injured last year, Frampton replaced him in the European Union Championships. Eamon Tuohey from Moate could also be in contention if he should regain his former form.

There are eight entries at light welter and welterweight. David Barrett from Rylane, will be dropping down a division to light welter where he hopes to challenge John Joe Joyce.

Joyce, just 19, moved up a division to beat Aodh Carlyle in a box-off for the place on the team for the world championships, and is seeking his first senior title at the weight.

Paddy Barnes is Ireland’s only Olympic qualifier and will be challenged by James Moore who forfeited the title to the Belfast light fly a year ago with two entries in the division.

John Joe Joyce from Mullingar and boxing out of the Cavan club could prove a difficult opponent for the reigning bantamweight champion, Ryan Lindberg. A year younger than Lindberg, he has been following the same route in recent years but both could have a problem with Kevin Fennessy from Clonmel who was a somewhat unlucky loser last year.