Michael Conlan and Ken Egan back Joe Ward to clinch World final spot

Former World champion Michael Conlan and Olympic silver medallist Ken Egan are backing their ex-Irish team-mate Joe Ward to reach back-to-back World Elite light-heavy finals in Hamburg, Germany, tonight.

Ward meets Uzbekistan’s Olympic finalist Bektimer Melikuziev in an all southpaw last-four showdown, while Cuba’s current Olympic and World champion Julio de la Cruz faces Ecuador’s Carlos Mina in the corresponding semi-final.

Ward was beaten in the 2015 World final by La Cruz in Doha, Qatar, where Conlan became the first Irish male boxer to win World Elite gold.