Walsh has fighting Irish relaxed and ready for Moscow battle

HEAD coach Billy Walsh was thanking his lucky stars the Irish team were amongst the first to arrive in Moscow for the European Senior Boxing championships, starting on Saturday.

“There was a lot of hassle on arrival and I can only imagine what it is going to be like when another 40 teams arrive,” he said.

The good news was that everyone arrived healthy and Walsh, who has brought back medals from every major championship since 2007, predicted some more big performances.

“We have medal chances,” he said. “We have an interesting mix of very experienced boxers and some newcomers to this level.

“If I was asked about medals a few weeks ago, I would not have been so confident because this team is somewhat under-cooked.

“In the past we would have eight or 10 internationals behind us going into a major championship but the scheduling of our national championships did not allow time for that this year.

“Then we had a very good 10-day training camp with Kazakhstan in Dublin and that worked wonders.

“Then we travelled to another very good training camp in Kiev to put the finishing touches to our preparations. So the lads badly in need of competitive sparring have had plenty of that.”

In that category was Olympic bronze medallist, Paddy Barnes. He has had just a handful of fights since the Beijing Olympics and he has returned from surgery on a hernia.

“Right now, everybody is healthy,” Walsh said. “It is unfortunate that our heavyweight, Con Sheehan, is not here. He broke his thumb in that tournament in Turkey. I feel he would have done very well out here.

“As well as Paddy there is going to be huge expectations surrounding the likes of Kenny Egan and the other senior members but Friday’s draw is vital. From there on, we will take it one fight at a time.

“We have an exciting mix of youth and experience. Kenny has his Olympic silver medal and won medals at the Europeans before, Paddy Barnes is an Olympic bronze medallist, John Joe Nevin won a bronze medal at last year’s world championships, John Joe Joyce is a European bronze medallist and they all boxed in the Olympics.

“We have Darren O’Neill who is a very experienced boxer and some very good young boxers. Ray Moylette won a gold medal at the world youths championships. He came back after the world championships and found it difficult dealing with expectations. This year he moved up a weight division, won his national senior title and he is really producing. He is only 20 and knows he still has a lot to learn but he is a very smart individual in the ring. I can see him improving every day.

“We are now tapering off, relaxing here in Moscow and getting ready mentally for the championships. Everyone is very focused.”

Walsh was in familiar surroundings when the team checked into the Cosmos Hotel in Moscow as he stayed in that hotel when he competed in the Goodwill Games back in 1986 when he reached the quarter-finals. The Wexford man, himself, competed in the European championships in 1983, 1987 and 1991 as well as the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul. He lost out to Barcelona Olympic champion, Michael Carruth, in a box-off for the 1992 Olympics.