Ireland and England top in youth boxing tournament

Ireland and England shared top spot at the conclusion of the weekend's Youth international round robin at the National Stadium in Dublin this afternoon.

Both nations finished level on 40 points to share the Tommy Murphy shield.

Germany (24 points), and Italy (6 points), finished in third and fourth spot.

Ireland and England received walkovers versus the Italians to arrive at their total.

England beat Germany 6-4 this morning, a result that meant that the hosts had to win all their bouts against Italy this afternoon to tie the series.

And the Irish team did just that, winning five contests, courtesy of triumphs for Gary Molloy, Mark O'Hara, Jamie Kennedy, Jason Quigley and Ciaran O'Griofa.

Kennedy was involved in a thrilling contest with Dennis Piva, the Toome ace pulling away in the final few seconds to register a deserved 12-9 win.

Quigley meantime, had to come from behind to see off the challenge of Mirko Geografo by a one point margin.

Meantime, today's England versus Germany meeting also featured an "Ali versus Fraser" clash.

England's Clarke Fraser and Germany's Ali Krydan went head-to-head at super heavyweight thirty four years after Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier completed their epic trilogy in the "Thrilla in Manila."

Ali won today's "re-match", earning a 13-7 victory after four hard hitting rounds.

Both boxers also earned an extended round of applause after a top class contest.

Earlier this morning, Ireland's Chris Phelan beat England's Robert Curry 17-2. Phelan was ahead 4-0 at the end of round one, 10-1 up at the end of round two and added another seven points to his tally in the final two frames to cap an impressive winning margin.