Sutherland is ‘capable of better’
“Of course I wanted Darren to win,” he said. “But today Darren did not box as well as he is capable of boxing.
“Having said that, he has an Olympic medal and very few of us can say that or that we got to the Olympic Games. I am happy for him.”
O’Neill, who turned his back on a promising hurling career having played at minor and under-21 levels with Kilkenny, lost to Sutherland in a thrilling final at the national senior championships and that defeat cost him a shot at Olympic qualification.
“But the galling part of it all is that four light heavyweights, including Kenny Egan, will stand on the podium in Beijing for medals on Sunday and I have beaten three of them,” he said.
“I have boxed my last two internationals at light heavyweight and I beat the Chinese, Xiaoping Zhang in Finland and then I beat Yerkebulan Shynaliyev of Kazakhstan in Turkey six weeks ago. I beat Tony Jefferies in my first international.”
O’Neill, was a student at St Patrick’s Teacher Training College when he lost to Kenneth Egan in three finals at the national championships. That was before he dropped a division to replace Darren Sutherland when he was out of action with an eye injury.
He continued to box at middleweight when Sutherland returned and the pair filled the National Stadium to capacity for the finals of this year’s national senior championships.
After the championships and a subsequent box-off for places for the qualifier in Athens he took a break before returning at light heavyweight division.
Now he could be replacing Kenneth Egan at light heavyweight should the nine-time national champion and Olympic medallist decide to call it a day. There is a lot of speculation that Egan may be lured into the High Performance set up if and when he decides to retire. Gary Keegan’s move from the High Performance Unit to the Institute of Sport after these Olympics will lead to at least a reshuffle at the top.
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