Paddy Barnes and Michael Conlan on Olympic trail again

Paddy Barnes and Michael Conlan will both look to take another step towards qualification for next year’s Olympic Games in Brazil when they represent Italia Thunder in the World Series of Boxing (WSB) today. 

Barnes is undefeated in the light flyweight division after three bouts, but will need to be at this best in Astana, Kazakhstan as he faces home favourite Temirtas Zhussupoy.

Only one fighter qualifies for Rio de Janeiro from Barnes’ weight class in a format where individual rounds won are every bit as important as the overall result and the Belfast boxer is currently ranked number one.

Conlan, his fellow Belfast man, Olympic medallist, has won two and lost one of his bouts thus far and is listed as number two in the bantamweight rankings.

Conlan takes on Kairat Yeraliyev who has yet to feature in the WSB this year but whose pedigree is borne out by the bronze medal he won at the 2013 AIBA World Championship

The Kazakh team has dominated Group B so far in winning all six of their fixtures, though the form of Barnes and Conlan has been instrumental in bringing victory to the Italian outfit in their last four outings.

The card begins at 2pm Irish time and can be seen live on AIBABoxingTV.com.