Billy Walsh tightlipped on ‘plan for Rio’ for Irish boxing

Billy Walsh was tightlipped about his future with Irish boxing yesterday, referring simply to a “plan for Rio” when asked if he would steer the Irish boxers to next year’s Olympics. The Wexford man has been strongly linked to the US women’s team but at yesterdays BGE Leadership Conference he focused on the development of the Irish boxing team.

“We started in 2003, back from Sydney, where we had one boxer, Michael Roche from Cork. We had one in Athens, Andy Lee.

“People forget we were nearly extinct. Funding revolved around qualifying for the Olympics, so we had to change. Gary Keegan was director and brought me in, and it took us three years to get the right culture in place.