Box-off could hand Joyce Euro lifeline

DAVID OLIVER JOYCE and Carl Frampton could box-off for the featherweight spot on the Irish team for next month’s European Championships in Liverpool.

Illness caused Joyce, the current featherweight national champion, to withdraw from the finals of the senior open tournament on Friday night, presenting Frampton with a walk over.

It appears, however, that the Mullingar man who boxes out of the St Michael’s club in Athy has been thrown a lifeline.