Olympic star Barnes takes another step on road to Rio

Boxing: Paddy Barnes eased to within two wins of qualifying for his third successive Olympics after the USA threw in the towel in Italy on Saturday night.

Barnes, lining out for Italia Thunder against the USA in the World Series of Boxing (WSB), won after Melik Elliston’s corner raised the white flag in the fourth round in Roseto Degli Abruzzi.

Barnes had spent most of the first three rounds walking down the back-pedalling Denver fighter and was well ahead on points up to the stoppage.

The victory lifts the Irishman two points clear of his nearest rival, Uzbek Hasanboy Dusmatov. The top ranked WSB light-fly at the end of the regular season next month will qualify for Rio 2016.

Michael Conlan, also boxing for Italia Thunder, moved back into contention for Olympic qualification after earning a unanimous decision over Franceso Martinez.

London 2012 Olympian Adam Nolan and Brendan Irvine claimed double gold at the 24th Gee Bee multi-nations in Helsinki, Finland yesterday.

Nolan, who scooped the Best Fighter Award, beat English welter Chris Mbwakongo on a unanimous decision and Irvine edged Bulgarian light-fly Tinko Banabakov on a split decision. Myles Casey and Conor Coyle took silver after losing their fly and middleweight finals.