Carruth: We must win gold

Michael Carruth has raised the stakes for Ireland’s Olympic boxers by stating that anything less than a gold medal this summer will rank as ‘a failure’.

Irish boxers have won 12 of this country’s 23 Olympic medals but only one – Carruth’s in Barcelona in 1992 – has been gold and the former Army man believes that statistic must change this summer.

“If we don’t win an Olympic gold medal this year, it’s a failure. I’m putting my old buddy, Billy Walsh, under pressure there but it’s 20 years since I won at the Olympic Games. We need to be winning at the Olympic Games in boxing — be it the male version or female version.