Boxing European Men's Elite Championships

27 May 2011



The IABA will hold box-offs at the National Stadium today and Saturday to decide the lightweight and welterweight positions on the Irish team for next month's European Elite Championships in Ankara, Turkey. The St Mary's BC pair of Michael McDonagh and Ciaran Bates and the St Michael's Athy duo of Eric Donovan and David Oliver Joyce will box off in the (60Kg) lightweight category.


John Joe Joyce, Paddy Gallagher, Willie McLaughlin and Craig McCarthy will box off in the (69Kg) welterweight class. The semi-finals will be held Friday and the finals Saturday. The box-offs will be held in conjunction with the National Youth Championships semi-finals and finals. The weigh-in for the weekend's box-offs will be held between 8.30am and 9.30am today at the National Stadium followed by the draw.


The remaining eight places on the Irish team for the European Elite Championships have been filled. Paddy Barnes, the current European light-flyweight champion, Darren O'Neill, who claimed silver at the 2010 European Championships, AIBA World Senior bronze medalist John Joe Nevin and AIBA World Youth champion Joe Ward will compete in Ankara.


Ray Moylette, the 2008 AIBA World Youth champion, European Union champion Con Sheehan and 2007 European Union silver medalist Cathal McMonagle are also included in the panel, along with Michael Conlon, who claimed three wins on the trot at the recent Round Robin with two German squads and Great Britain in Germany.


Ireland won one gold, one silver and three bronze medals at the 2010 European Championships in Moscow to finish in second place in the medals table behind Russia. The Irish squad will travel to Sheffield on Sunday for a training camp with Great Britain, Poland and Estonia. The squad return home on June 5th before traveling to Ankara on June 11th.


The 2011 European Elite Championships will take place between June 14th and 28th. Boxing begins at 5pm this afternoon at the National Stadium.

 

Irish European Elite Championships Squad

  • 49Kg: Paddy Barnes (Holy Family)
  • 52Kg: Michael Conlon (St John Bosco)
  • 56Kg: John Joe Nevin (Cavan)
  • 60Kg (To Be Decided)
  • 64Kg: Ray Moylette (St Anne's)
  • 69Kg: (To Be Decided)
  • 75Kg: Darren O'Neill (Paulstown)
  • 81Kg: Joe Ward (Moate)
  • 91Kg: Con Sheehan (Clonmel)
  • 91+Kg: Cathal McMonagle (Holy Trinity)