Cool Egan ready to step up gold bid against Samba boy Silva

KENNETH EGAN will climb into the ring next Tuesday just one fight away from an Olympic medal and, like it or not, he will be favourite to take the bronze medal — at least — away from Beijing, following a very impressive 10-2 victory over the Turkish light heavyweight, Bahram Muzaffer, for a place in the quarter finals.

The win, before the big group of Irish supporters at the Workers’ Gymnasium, puts him in line for a quarter-final clash with Washington Silva (Brazil) and, if he comes through that particular assignment intact, he will meet either Tony Jeffries (Great Britain) or Imre Szello, the new Hungarian on the block.

The form book would put Egan in as favourite for that particular contest as well, should it materialise. When Jeffries and Szello touched gloves at the EU championships in June, Jeffries won. and then Kenneth Egan beat the Englishman for the gold medal.