Preparations worry but focused O’Neill eyeing Beijing spot

DARREN O’NEILL may have put what seemed like the perfect finishing touch to his preparations for this weekend’s box-off against Darren Sutherland when he won another gold medal at the multi-nations tournament in Zagreb but he admitted yesterday his preparations for the big rematch have not been perfect.

When they touched gloves in the finals of national senior championships in January at the National Stadium they brought the house down.

Victory for Sutherland that night sent him to the Olympic qualifying tournament in Pescara and O’Neill resigned himself to the fact that his great rival would qualify, but a bad decision went against the Dubliner and the former Kilkenny hurler was thrown another lifeline.