Dean Gardiner secures Euro place but IABA bruised by internal row

Punches were finally thrown in the ring at the National Stadium last night as a mooted box-off to decide Ireland’s super-heavyweight representative at next month’s European Championships resulted in a split-decision victory for Dean Gardiner.

Clonmel clubman Gardiner, the former Irish champion, will now be on the nine-man team that will travel to Ukraine on Monday ahead of the continental championships, which get underway in Kharkiv on June 14.

With verbal blows being launched between two warring parties in Irish boxing over the past week, definitive confirmation the box-off would proceed was only officially issued by the Irish Athletic Boxing Association (IABA) less than three hours before the 8pm bell.