Day of judgment as quartet close in on medals
David, of St Michael’s, Athy, has on paper, the biggest assignment of them all when he goes in against the reigning Olympic champion, Vasyl Loma-chenko (Ukraine) in the quarter-finals of the featherweight division.
“It is a difficult task,” Billy Walsh admitted. “Lomachenko is the best pound for pound in Europe, if not in the world right now.
“Having said that, this is an assignment that David Oliver can handle. After watching David Oliver in action on Sunday against Joe Murray, I am convinced that he can beat this guy.
“He was just amazing. Remember Darren Sutherland against (Alfonso) Blanco in Beijing? Well this was exactly the same. David Oliver held his hands high and worked from behind a very tight defence, coming out to pound Joe Murray with two-fisted combinations. Murray has been around a bit but David Oliver made him look like an ordinary boxer. Let’s remember Murray was on home ground here.”
David Oliver Joyce was bitterly disappointed that he did not qualify for the Olympic Games.
He let the opportunity slip at the world championships in Chicago last year and illness before the national championships set him back but he was thrown a lifeline when Carl Frampton agreed to a box-off, which Joyce won narrowly.
John Joe Joyce is the only member of the Olympic team to opt for the European Championships — Darren Sutherland has signed a professional contract with Frank Maloney, Kenneth Egan was at the Calzaghe-Jones fight in New York at the weekend and Paddy Barnes and John Joe Nevin are on a break.
But John took his career to a new level with a devastating 20-3 victory over John Tain of Scotland on Monday.
Joyce said: “The pressure was off me after a couple of rounds but I still kept the intensity high because I felt I needed four good rounds under my belt and I was able to do some things I had never done before. I was throwing a lot of right hooks and that is a punch I never practice because I have never had to rely on my right hand.”
He may have to use it today when he meets Bulgarian southpaw Dimitar Stilyanov. Stilyanov won the European lightweight title in Pula in 2004 and made it to the last 16 at the Olympic Games in Athens that year, when he lost to Amir Khan.
Last year he was up at welterweight when he lost to Joyce’s clubmate, Roy Sheahan, in the semi-finals at the EU championships in Dublin.
“We know quite a bit about the Bulgarian,” Billy Walsh said. “The fact that he is a southpaw should not bother John Joe unduly and if John Joe performs the way he did yesterday, he is going to be a handful for anyone.”
Eamon O’Kane created an upset when he came from three points down going into the final round to beat Turkish Olympian, Adem Kiliggi, 7-6 on Monday night.
The 26-year-old who had spent all of his career in the shadows of Andy Lee, Kenneth Egan and Darren Sutherland was appearing in his first European Championships.
Now he meets Andranik Hakoyban in the quarter-finals. The Armenian won the gold medal at the Olympic qualifiers in Pescara last February.
“I think Eamon can win this one,” Billy Walsh said. And he also predicted that heavyweight Con Sheehan can at least claim a bronze medal by beating Petrisor Gananau (Romania) in today’s quarter-final.
“Gananau is another new kid on the block,” Walsh said. “He is not as tall as Con but is bulky and is up for a fight.
“Con has all the skills, He can go even further in this tournament.”
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