Box Cup win re-ignites Moore’s Olympic hopes

WINNING an Adidas Belt at the Box Cup Tournament in Hamburg may not have compensated James Moore for the loss of his national senior crown but the performance, coupled with the defeat of his conqueror, Henry Coyle, in Helsinki over the weekend, has re-ignited his hopes of Olympic qualification.

Moore, who dethroned Neil Gough in 2001, was favourite to lift the welterweight title for a fourth successive time when he was defeated by the relatively unknown Gesala man, a deserving winner on a bad night for the defending champion.

“He was very down afterwards. In fact we all were,” Jim Moore, father and coach to James, admitted. “He had been contemplating pulling out of the Adidas Box Cup in Germany but now he is very glad he went.”