Egan in at deep end for opener

OLYMPIC silver medallist Kenny Egan has drawn tough opposition for his heavyweight debut at the world championships in Baku.

The Neilstown southpaw, whose six previous appearances have all been at light heavyweight, may have been seeded six for yesterday’s draw but that only meant a bye into the second and when he goes into action next Monday his opponent will be the winner of the first round bout between Lubos Velecky (Czech Republic) and Jose Larduet (Cuba).

Larduet, a former world youth champion, has been selected ahead of another upcoming Cuban, Leinier Perot, who is the reigning Youth Olympic Games champion, and Egan need his experience to win.

“Kenny is a wily character and he’s in very good form,” said head coach, Billy Walsh. “If I was a young, up and coming boxer I wouldn’t fancy meeting an Olympic silver medallist in my opening bout.”

Olympic bronze medallist, Paddy Barnes, is on a collision course with his old foe Zou Shiming fromChina.

Barnes, who won European and Commonwealth Games titles last year, was seeded eight and will meet either Mark Barriga (Phillipines) or Stefan Caslarov (Albania) next Monday.

He lost to Shiming at the world championships in Chicago four years ago and in the semi-finals at the Beijing Olympics.

Even if he was to lose to Zou Shiming, Barnes would more than likely qualify for London 2012 as the boxers who lose to the eventual finalists in this division will qualify along with the top eight.

Flyweight Michael Conlon meets Alexander Riscan (Moldova) tomorrow and will benefit from the fact they sparred at the recent training camp in Cologne. He will need three wins to be certain of qualification.

Bantamweight John Joe Nevin, a bronze medallist last time around, was seeded four and meets Filip Barak (Slovakia) or Akhil Kimar (India) on Monday. Two wins will book him a place in London.

Lightweight David Oliver Joyce meets Mohammad Momevand (Iran) on Saturday and needs three wins to be certain of his second Olympic qualification.

European light welterweight champion, Ray Moylette, meets Arturs Ahmetovs (Latvia) on Friday and also needs three wins. Welterweight Roy Sheahan, who went close to qualification in Chicago, meets Carl Hield (Bahamas) on Thursday and also needs three victories.

Darren O’Neill meets Glodi Eneste (Norway) on Saturday — a man he beat 13-2 in the EU finals in Denmark. European light heavyweight champion, Joe Ward, was seeded two for those championships and gets a bye into the second series meeting either Stoimen Dimitrov (Bulgaria) or Dilovarsho Abdurakhmonov (Tajikistan) on Sunday with two wins enough to qualify. All the big guns on the other side of the draw including world number one, Egor Mehontsev (Russia), and Imre Szello (Hungry) and Fiori Simono (Italy) who he beat the semi-finals and quarter finals at the European championships.

Con Sheehan (Clonmel), who has moved up to super heavyweight and meets Farukh Kalonov (Tajikistan) on Sunday. His next opponent will almost certainly be the Olympic and two-time world champion, Robert Cammarelle (Italy).

Billy Walsh described the draw as reasonable but said what really mattered was what comes out at the other end.

“Ok, a draw is a draw but you look at it and you have to think about what comes out at the other end. There are always going to be good and bad results but I firmly believe that we have the potential to deliver.

“Now that it’s over we are really only focusing on the first fight. We have nobody boxing tomorrow and then Michael Conlon goes into action on Tuesday.

“But, overall, it’s a reasonable draw. We have three or four fights to get us where we want to be so it is very important that we get a good start. and get some momentum going.