Griffin takes fresh swing in pro ranks

PAUL GRIFFIN will re-launch his boxing career under the management of Brian Peters, already directing the careers of two other Dubliners, Bernard Dunne and Jim Rock.

Griffin created a sensation when he won the featherweight gold medal at the European championships in Gothenburg in 1991, bridging a gap stretching back to 1949 when Maxie McCullough won gold in Oslo. Two years later he won a bronze medal in Bursa and he had already been singled out for stardom when he joined the professional ranks in 1995.

He notched 14 victories before suffering his first defeat at the hands of Tomas Jansson in Helsinki but his professional career never reached the heady heights he scaled as an amateur.