Ward shows Egan no mercy

Joe Ward retained his title and may have ended the career of one of Irish boxing’s legends when he out-pointed Kenny Egan by a massive score of 29-10 to retain his light heavyweight title at the Elite Senior Championships fought before a full house at the National Stadium last night.

The score underlined the manner in which the 18-year-old Westmeath man dominated the contest. He forced Egan to take a standing count in the second round and, from then on, was totally in control.

Egan had tried to set the pace from behind his right jab but Ward pinned him on the ropes and pounded him, swinging a looping left hook that would soon become a feature of the fight, rocking Egan and forcing him to come forward for scraps. He won the first round 9-5 and, always trying to set the Olympic silver medallist up for the big one, eventually nailed him in the second and referee Ferdie Whelan was left with no option but to administer a standing count.

From here on Ward was in total control of the ring, winning the second round 8-3 for a nine-point cushion and Egan, now pushing forward, was an easy target in the third. Ward hit him with everything but, like the champion he is, Egan stood his ground defiantly.

“I’m delighted with my performance,” Ward said. “I went in there with the right tactics, I used them well and I got the right result.

“I knew if I made him miss he would walk into the big shots. No disrespect to him, he came out in the first round to fight. He did not come out to move — he came out to go forward. I knew what was going to happen and how long it would take because I had the bigger shots.

“No disrespect to Kenny, he is a great boxer but, as I said yesterday, this is a young man’s sport.

“I just want to say thanks to Eddie Bolger, my trainer, John Joyce and the Sports Council for looking after me. Basically that is why I came back here and won — I did not have to go to the WSB where I would have had to change my style. I really focused on the seniors and qualifying for the Olympics. With the money the Irish Sports Council are giving me I wasn’t stuck for anything.

“Kenny is a legend. It’s good that there is someone new coming in taking over from Kenny. Hopefully I can do as much as he did.

“When you go in there and beat Kenny by 19 points that’s a big achievement. I can concentrate on the Olympic qualifier in Turkey.”

Afterwards Egan, 11-time national senior champion, was gracious in defeat. “I put my money on Joe to qualify for the Olympics and win a medal,” he said.

Paddy Barnes is confident he will not only qualify for the Olympic Games but feels that he can improve on the bronze medal he won in Beijing.

Last night he got Olympic qualification back on track with a hard-earned 21-17 victory over Kildare light flyweight, Hugh Myers (Ryston).

“There are no easy fights here,” Barnes admitted. “I was surprised. I trained really hard, I was fit but in the first round my stomach felt heavy. They were fast punches but they were not heavy punches. We were catching each other with shots to the body. They must have scored his shots to the body because he did not hit me to the face.

“There was not much pressure on me as regards the Olympics because if I was not good enough to win the Irish seniors I could forget about qualifying for the Olympics.

“Everyone knows I am good enough — not just to qualify but to win gold. That’s only my third fight — I need about three more but it seems to be based around the heavier weights and I’m a bit annoyed about that.”

“I am confident I can get one of the four qualifying spots for the Olympics. I feel I’m the best in Europe and I want to prove that. I want about three more fights and I’ll be flying.

Two-time world championship bronze medallist, John Joe Nevin (Cavan), has qualified for London 2012 and he will travel as national champion after out-pointing his cousin, Michael Nevin (Portlaoise) 23-3 for his fifth successive senior title.

Michael Conlon (St John Bosco) also qualified for London 2012 at the world championships in Baku and he put his flyweight title on the line against Chris Phelan (Ryston) last night.

The Belfast man won the first round 6-2 but Phelan caught him with some big shots at the start of the second and he was the one coming forward but Conlon managed to keep him at bay and won the round 7-5 for a six-point cushion going into the last round. He won the contest 19-11.

Olympic-bound middleweight Darren O’Neill (Paulstown) claimed his fourth national senior title by virtue of a walkover after Conor Coyle (St Joseph’s, Derry) was forced to withdraw with an injury to his left hand which he had been carrying since the quarter-finals.