New IABA internal row Ieaves Irish boxing floored again

Earlier this week, a box-off to decide Ireland’s super-heavyweight representative for next month’s European Championships was mooted to take place this evening. Instead of that fight taking centre stage, Irish boxing has been hit by yet another crisis — one which could last a far longer distance than the three rounds originally expected to be contested between Martin Keenan and Dean Gardiner at the National Stadium.

Those two boxers are now supporting characters in the latest saga to engulf the sport as a dispute over whether Gardiner or Keenan would be picked to travel to Ukraine for the continental competition has proven to be just one of the sparks to ignite a roaring blaze in the boardroom of the Irish Athletic Boxing Association (IABA).

The row is not merely about which fighter will travel to Kharkiv for the European Championships — which get underway on June 14 — but it also the result of an IABA civil war that has been brewing for some time.