Douglas adds class to heavyweight division at Cork tournament

COMMONWEALTH Games gold medallist Jason Douglas heads an entry of five for the heavyweight honours at the multi-nations boxing tournament which gets underway at the Rochestown Park Hotel in Cork tomorrow evening.

The inclusion of Douglas in the Canadian team has added an extra dimension to the heavyweight division which took a blow with Irish champion Alan Reynolds forced to cry off suffering from bronchitis.

There was another blow when the newest Irish sensation, Andy Lee from Limerick, had to withdraw with an arm injury picked up while at the Olympic training camp in Cyprus.

“Both were blows,” said tournament director Dan O’Connell. “But, happily we were able to find replacements. We were not in a position to replace Alan Reynolds with an Irish heavyweight, but the Americans came to our rescue and were able to provide us with a very good opponent in Francisco Palacios at just 24 hours notice.

"This means that we will still have five heavyweights in action with Fevzi Izmaku from Kosovo, Andreas Gustafsson from Sweden and the Cypriot Filippou Costas already here.

“The absence of Andy Lee is going to be a huge disappointment for boxing fans across Munster. He damaged his arm at the training Olympic training camp in Cyprus. He wanted to box here in Cork and we would have loved to have him but, on the recommendation of the medical team, it was decided not to take any chances.

"It was pointed out that further damage would at least delay his recovery and he is due to leave for Russia with the elite squad from here.”

He is replaced at middleweight by Meathman Frank O’Brien who won a national intermediate title and made the finals of the senior championships while boxing out of the Knocknagoshel club.

He will be joined by Eamonn O’Kane.

Ireland will also be doubly represented at welter where James Moore, bronze medallist at the world championships in Belfast a couple of years ago, will be joined by Henry Coyle.

Roy Sheahan from Athy and Michael Kelly will challenge for the light welterweight title, but their task was made a bit more difficult with the arrival of an American boxer, Antonio Johnson, and the news that Scot James Cusick would be stepping up to this division to bring the entry to seven and make it one of the most competitive divisions in the tournament.

France have included their world ranked lightweight, Guillaume Salingue, in their team and here Ireland will be banking on national champion Andrew Murray from Cavan, joined by Garreth Dunne.

The structure of the tournament has been altered. Instead of two sessions per day there will be one night session only commencing at 7.30pm. With 14 contests down for decision there will be a bumper session tomorrow night.

This will be followed by eight semi-finals in each of the Wednesday and Thursday night sessions and it was announced yesterday that, while all the corporate tables for Friday night’s finals have been sold out, there will be a limited number of tickets available.

Tickets will be available at the door for the preliminaries and semi-finals.