Boxing is amateur in everything and name

The cream of Ireland’s beaten Olympic boxers will be lost to the amateur game after the debacle of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. And they will leave behind a system that will also defeat those who seek to succeed them.

Belfast pair Michael Conlan and Paddy Barnes will turn professional as soon as they can put pen to paper. Welter Steven Donnelly has had an approach from the US to do the same.

Conlan has calmed since he said he would never fight in another AIBA tournament but friends say that has not changed his mind. Barnes still boils with private fury at the shambles of this Olympics.