Brendan Mooney on the light heavyweight competition between Joe Ward and Ken Egan at the National Boxing Championships.
This time last year Joe Ward was saying he would beat Ireland’s Olympic silver medallist, Kenny Egan, to add the national senior light heavyweight title to his CV.
The Moate light heavyweight, who had just turned 17 the previous October, was oozing confidence.
London 2012 was somewhere on his mind but he just wanted this massive scalp to add to his collection.
He did it in style a couple of weeks later, so emphatic in fact that Egan moved up to heavyweight. Ward went on to claim a European title and went on to the world championships in Baku but failed to qualify for the Olympic Games.
With just one spot remaining at heavyweight, Egan has dropped back to light heavyweight and will renew rivalry with Ward who has a whole new approach to the championships which get underway today.
