John Joe believes he can go higher

HAVING already made history by becoming the first Irishman to win two medals at the World Championships, John Joe Nevin wants to cash in his bronze medal for at least a silver when he goes in against Englishman Luke Campbell in today’s bantamweight semi-final in Baku.

Nevin and Campbell have slugged it out before and the Mullingar man won that contest handsomely — 13-2 — but he is the first to admit a lot of punches have been thrown since that confrontation at the European Union Championships in Denmark in 2009.

“He has improved a lot since then and so have I. One thing I can promise, this will be a good fight, it will be a very tough fight and I’ll be up for it,” said Cavan BC fighter Nevin, who beat Orzubek Shayimov of Uzbekistan in the quarter-final.