A stuttering start to the European Championships by Ireland has been transformed into what could be one of Ireland’s greatest medal hauls ever.
Four Irish boxers continued their rip through the draw in Minsk, Belarus, yesterday, with Olympic silver medallist John Joe Nevin, Olympic bronze medallists Paddy Barnes and Michael Conlan, and Donegal middleweight Jason Quigley all through to the semi-finals tomorrow and assured of bronze medals.
It has been a week of swaying fortunes for the Irish team and as the boxers go into a rest day today following the early departure of their two reigning European champions, Joe Ward (injury) and Ray Moylette (beaten), the quartet look in at tomorrow’s last four with hopes of upgrading to at least silver.
In that respect the bullish Paddy Barnes was typically curt in his expectations for this week.
“He was fighting very negatively. It may have looked a bad fight because of the way he was boxing. I was more the aggressor,” said the Belfast lightflyweight of Hungarian opponent Istvan Ungvari. “I’m here to win it. I don’t care about the bronze. It’s gold or nothing for me. I’ve been here before. Anything but gold is failure.”
Of the four, it was Belfast’s Conlan, who was in the last Irish bout of the day, rose to meet the challenge of the Belarus hopeful Siarhei Loban.
Ireland head coach Billy Walsh has sometimes wryly observed that the most effective way to beat a home fighter in a city like Minsk is not to let the bout go the whole way and be decided by the referees. Stylishly able, that’s exactly what Conlan did when he stopped Loban in the second round with a TKO.
Kenneth Egan, in Minsk with the Irish team, observed that Conlan is “the real deal”. And so he is.
But it was a team day, one that leaves Ireland and Walsh mulling over their rest day and in the position of looking towards four bouts that could realistically return more than a couple of silver and gold European medals.
Feel comfortable
Once more, it's a place where all four boxers will feel comfortable, despite the relative inexperience of Quigley.
Bantamweight Nevin, who is 23 years old tomorrow also outclassed Hungarian bantamweight Krisztian Nagy, with a unanimous (30-24, 30-27, 30-25) decision, ensuring that like lightweight Olympic champion, Katie Taylor, he has now won medals at all the boxing majors – the Olympic Games, World, European and EU Championships
“It enjoyed it. This is my third European Championships. I didn’t medal at two of them. I was robbed at one and didn’t perform at another,” said Nevin. “You have to take it every step as it comes. One step at a time. It doesn’t matter if it’s an Olympic final. It’s the same ring you’re in. Forget about everything else. It’s just another fight and I treated it that way.
“I’m not here for a holiday. It will be the sweat suit tonight, taking down the weight and don’t think about the next opponent until the day comes.”
The most romantic run of the four came from Quigley, who made it three wins in a row with a unanimous decision over Stefan Haertel.
In a circular relationship, it was the German boxer, who beat Irish Olympic captain Darren O’Neill at London 2012, O’Neill’s nemesis now putting Haertel to the sword.
Quigley, a European Youth and European under-23 champion, is used to winning championships but not at this level and now the Finn Valley boxer faces into the most difficult of his young career. Next up he meets AIBA world champion and the number one seed at the championships, Ievgen Khytrov of the Ukraine.
"I can't describe it at the minute," said Quigley. "It's the best achievement I have to date. I started from a young age, me and my father training in the kitchen. I owe it all back to my family. It's about who wants it the most, and I know when I get into that ring that no one wants it more than me. I think that's what won me the fight today."
Tournament medals
Barnes, now a two-time European medallist, is accumulating top tournament medals in almost as great a number as Nevin. Having previously won gold in Moscow in 2010, he adds at least another European medal to two Olympic bronze medals and Commonwealth gold from New Delhi in 2010.
The result was to Barnes liking but not the way the scoring fell, with a split-decision deciding his win over Ungvari.
Two of the judges scored it 29-28, 29-28 in favour of the man from Belfast’s Ardoyne but the Argentinian judge marked it 30-27 for Ungarvi.
Barnes’s Belfast team-mate, Tommy McCarthy bowed out of the tournament after dropping a unanimous decision to Azeri heavyweight Teymur Mammadou, the 2011 European and World gold and silver medallist.
