Huge boost for Irish boxing as trio qualify

IRELAND will have five boxers in this year’s Olympic tournament in Beijing, the biggest representation since Barcelona in 1992 when Michael Carruth and Wayne McCullough won their gold and silver medals.

The team was completed at the last of the qualifying tournaments in Athens yesterday when all three survivors, middleweight Darren Sutherland, light heavyweight Kenneth Egan and light welterweight John Joe Joyce won their semi-finals to complete the list that already included light-flyweight Paddy Barnes from the Chicago world championships and John Joe Nevin from the first qualifying tournament in Pescara.

But yesterday was a defining day in the recent history of Irish boxing as Sutherland — who won inside two rounds when Victor Cotiujanschii (Moldova) quit in favour of today’s middleweight box-off after sustaining a cut over his left eye — and Egan turned in one of the most polished performances of his career to beat the young German, Gottlieb Weiss, 21-10.