Ireland lose out on European test

Confusion reigned at the launch of the IABA’s National Elite Championships yesterday, with the news that Ireland won’t be hosting the European Women’s Championships this year.

At the press conference, Katie Taylor was forced to leave early due to a prior engagement, but not before her father and coach Peter briefly spoke of how she was looking forward to the continental event. Indeed association president Tommy Murphy also spoke of how her heavy schedule of five fights in four weeks would be good preparation for Taylor as “there’s no use boxing once or twice going into the Europeans as you can’t walk in cold, box and win championships”.

But in Taylor’s absence, Murphy then revealed those women’s Europeans won’t actually be taking place.

“Well I’m not quite happy with the situation,” he said. “We got a letter indicating we were getting those championships and now we get a letter saying they can’t give them to us because of a world body ruling. In future they want the Europeans to be held the same year as the worlds which would be 2014. We were building up for it but that’s not to say we won’t get them in 2014.”

The National Championships begin on February 8 at the National Stadium, but this year, the finals on February 22 have been moved to CityWest due to health and safety concerns. The men’s team is expected to be selected for the European Championships in Minsk in May, but head of the high performance unit Billy Walsh spoke of his annoyance at that.

“Normally the champions get on the plane for the Europeans but you could get to the situation where Paddy Barnes or John Joe Nevin could get the flu the morning of a senior final or a run of diarrhoea or something and then there’s a case to be made for those guys because of their record.

“If it was necessary for a box-off we’d ask for one, but I don’t want to be doing that. Basically I want selection control. I’ve had negotiations in the past and they haven’t gone very well. The Central Council makes those decisions and that’s the way it is.”

Also speaking at the launch, Kenneth Egan – going for a record 11th national title — mentioned his concern at how head guards are set to be scrapped at the next Olympics. “I wouldn’t be a fan of it personally, it just doesn’t make sense. If you go to a major championships, you’ve five or six fights in a week, how are you going to get through the week without getting cut?”

“I can see where Kenny is coming from,” added John Joe Nevin. “You could be winning a fight easily but a lad could catch you in the last round and you are out the next day then.

“I think it’s a move in the wrong direction. The reason they want to do it is probably to make the boys more familiar, but medically it may affect us,” he said.

“To get through five fights in a week without a cut, you’ll need a lot of luck. And there’s the safety element — to put your kid into a sport without headgear, parents may not do it. But we’ll adapt. It’ll affect some guys for a while but we’ll just get on with it.”