Joe Ward meets Hungarian light-heavyweight Imre Szello in the 81kg and Ray Moylette clashes with Hajiliyev Heybatulla of Azerbaijan in a light-welterweight last-four duel.
Both Irish boxers – who claimed AIBA World Youth titles in 2008 and 2010 – are guaranteed at least bronze from the 40-nation Continental deciders in Ankara.
“Joe and Raymond should be well able for their opponents and we’re quietly confident going into the semi-finals. The Hungarian is a big, strong lad, but he’s fairly straight and that should suit Joe,” said Team Manager Des Donnelly.
“Raymond should be well able for the Azerbaijani lad also. It could be touch and go in both semi-finals. Raymond and Joe are confident and relaxed and the whole squad will be 100 per cent behind them.
“We’re disappointed John Joe Nevin and Michael Conlon aren’t there also. They were both absolutely destroyed by the judges in the quarter-finals. John Joe was back to his level best and he gave an exhibition of boxing against the Russian.
“But he didn’t get the decision which was very, very disappointing because he deserved it. The lads gave it their all in the quarter-finals. Willie, Michael, Darren, John Joe, Joe and Raymond left everything in the ring.”
Today’s semi-finals begin at noon, Irish time. Moylette will be in action in the afternoon session and Ward in the evening, and the fights will be live on www.aiba.org.
AIBA European Championship semi-finals – 64kg: Ray Moylette (St Anne’s) v Hajiliyev Heybatulla (Azerbaijan); 81kg: Joe Ward (Moate) v Imre Szello (Hungary).
Other news:
The International Boxing Association (AIBA) today announces the launch of a new live boxing channel on YouTube – www.aibaboxingtv.com. The channel will be operated in cooperation with AIBA’s media rights partner, Total Sports Asia (TSA), featuring live streaming of AIBA’s major boxing events..
The 2011 European Boxing Championships, currently underway in the city of Ankara, Turkey, will be instrumental in determining the European boxers who will go forward to the AIBA World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan in September – the first qualification event for the London 2012 Olympic Games.
The YouTube channel – www.aibaboxingtv.com – will be featuring the semi-finals and finals of the tournament on June 23rd and 24th, 2011 as its first live stream. Visitors to this YouTube boxing channel can expect selections of free-to-view archive footages and live streaming of international broadcast quality.
AIBA President Dr Ching Kuo Wu welcomed the move into broadcasting on a web-based platform, “As the world governing body for boxing, AIBA’s mission is to govern the sport of boxing in all its forms and to make its events available to the widest possible audience. The possibility for boxing fans to watch our major events live on the Internet is a major step forward for our organization and will offer much better visibility of our sport and our star athletes.”
From 1100 GMT tomorrow, boxing fans will be able to watch the semi-finals of the European Championships live on www.aibaboxingtv.com, featuring 2008 World Youth champ Ray Moylette and 2010 World Youth champ Joe Ward.
