Victory a weight off Egan’s shoulders
However, the Olympic silver medallist is still very much a work in progress.
His third round knockdown against Tommy McCarthy in Friday night’s semi-final created doubt over whether the move to heavyweight might be a bridge too far for the Neilstown southpaw. He was far from impressive against young Stephen Ward who is relatively inexperienced at this level and will meet bigger men regularly from now on.
“The heavyweights can be big but if they can’t hit you they can’t hurt you,” he said.
“I’m going to use my speed and let the shots go. I’ll have to focus on putting on a bit of weight. I’d like to sit around 88-89 kgs and then I’d be able to come down to 85 for the world series calendar.
“I have a good team behind me — John Cleary, strength and conditioning coach, and that — working on the weights in the gym and my diet and all that.
“It’s all a work in progress. It’s a new venture for me and I’m looking forward to the challenge. I am going to the World Championships now and I’ll qualify for the Olympic Games. I have that belief in myself.
“We’re off to Assisi for a nine-day training camp with the Italians next week then we are home for eight or nine days and we are gone then to a training camp in Germany and from Germany then to Azerbaijan.
“I’m nearly sure I’ll be on the team. I don’t care about anyone else. If they send just me to Azerbaijan I’ll be happy. I think I am after earning my place on the plane by now.”
Clonmel man Con Sheehan, who facilitated Egan’s move up to heavyweight by stepping up to super heavy, is another who will be on the flight. He was brilliant disposing of the six-time Irish champion Cathal McMonagle and Sean Turner en route to victory.
“I was in my comfort zone throughout the fight but I knew I just had to be alert because he has a big punch,” the three-time national heavyweight champion said.
David Oliver Joyce (St Michael’s, Athy), who almost quit after his disqualification in the national championships, also claimed his place on the team for the world championships with a convincing 15-5 victory over Mark O’Hara (Holy Trinity).
The Mullingar man was involved in one of the best contests witnessed at the National Stadium on Friday when he eventually beat clubmate Eric Donovan on a countback (88-91) after a thrilling 11-11 draw and he felt the effects of that on Saturday.
“The fight with Eric was a stunner,” he said.
“People are still talking about it here today. It was three rounds head to head. Hopefully that’s my ticket booked now for the Olympic qualifier.”
His clubmate Roy Sheahan was also coming off two hard contests when he claimed a tough victory over Portlaoise teenager Michael O’Reilly, who scooped a gold medal and the best boxer award at the recent Brandenburg youths cup.
“This is the best I’ve fought since the world championships in Chicago,” he insisted.
“I’m back in form, training hard and I’m going to keep it up. It is only coming right since the last week — my sparring is very good.”
Jason Quigley (Finn Valley), a former European junior champion, is hoping he might have done enough to get the nod over last year’s European silver medallist, Darren O’Neill, who missed the box-off with an injured hand.
“I put myself up here now. I’m number one in Ireland, Darren O’Neill couldn’t enter because of injury,” the 20-year-old Donegal man said after outpointing Stephen O’Reilly, from the neighbouring Twintowns club.
“I came here ready to prove that I’m the number one middleweight and I’ve done that. I had two good contests.”
And national champion Ross Hickey (Grangecon) feels he did enough to challenge European champion Ray Moylette for the light welterweight berth with a 19-12 victory over Sonny Upton (Holy Family, Belfast). A member of the Defence Forces, he could not get time off to go to the European championships and Moylette ended up going and winning the gold medal.
Mystery surrounds when the final selection will be made. The IABA still insist the Central Council meeting will not take place until Saturday — President, Tommy Murphy, was due back off holidays yesterday — but High Performance Coach Billy Walsh says his team will fly out to the first of two training camps in Assisi on Friday.
