Walsh: Irish boxing can survive blow of losing Olympic stars

Billy Walsh insists that boxing’s high-performance unit has the strength in depth to survive the loss of John Joe Nevin to the professional ranks — and Michael Conlan too, if it comes to that.

The Irish boxing coach named a nine-man team for next month’s World Amateur Boxing Championships yesterday, one without the Westmeath Olympic medallist who has decided to ditch the amateur game. Again.

It is a significant blow for a team hoping to claim a first senior world gold medal given Nevin was ranked number one in his weight division. The loss of Conlan would be another massive blow as he intends following suit if he wins a medal in Kazakhstan.

“He’s part of the family and when you lose someone out of the family, it’s difficult,” said Walsh of Nevin. “Now it’s my job and the coaches’ job to go and find a successor. Life moves on. Life will move on after Billy Walsh, life will move on after John Joe Nevin, life will move on after all this team.

“You’ve seen it with Kenny [Egan], you’ve seen it with Andy Lee, Paul McCloskey, Andy Murray. They have all been in the squad and we’ve had to move on and develop kids behind them, which is great. It shows the quality of the system and the quality of what Irish boxing is producing.”

Nevin has, of course, opted for the professional ranks before and promptly changed his mind, and Walsh insisted the 24-year old bantamweight would be welcomed back into the IABA’s elite fold should he do so again.

Walsh had nothing but praise for Nevin as a person and fighter but revealed the boxer’s indecision over his future had an unsettling effect on the rest of the squad and that prompted a make-or-break discussion recently.

Nevin has the talent to succeed in the paid ranks, according to Walsh, but the coach is clearly unconvinced the move will pay off for his former fighter, and pointed to others, such as Michael Carruth, who have found the professional route less than favourable.

“I remember Darren Sutherland, God be good to him, he came in to us 10 weeks before he died and said to the guys, ‘you don’t know how lucky you are, I’ve got to pay for this, I’ve got to pay for that’.

“Everything is covered here: their travel, their food, their accommodation, their health. All of that is secure. If they have to go and pay for that out of their salary, they’ll see what the real world is like.”

Nevin’s loss was compounded by the world governing body’s decision to reject Ireland’s request to replace him with Monaghan’s Gary McKenna as the closing date for entries passed. That hasn’t prevented Walsh from reaffirming his stated goal for the tournament in Almaty. “We’ve a target of two medals. It’s difficult. Before that the most we had was four in the top eight, so it’s difficult.” The squad fly to a training camp in Kazakhstan on Sunday and the tournament begins on Friday, October 11.