Michael Conlan and Dean Walsh have advanced to the quarter-finals of the European Elite Championships in Samokov, Bulgaria.
Conlan, in his first fight at this level since the 2013 European Elite final, beat France’s Anthony Brett 30-27, helped by switching from orthodox to southpaw for the entire contest.
Walsh progressed to the last eight on a unanimous decision (30-22, 30-27, 29-28) following a tough three rounds with Romanian light-welter Florentin Niculescu.
Ireland captain Darren O’Neill put in an excellent performance against Russian No 1 seed Evegeny Tischenko, a World Elite silver medallist, in a 91kg, however,
O’Neill was left shaking his head after the decision was announced. He more than held his own in the first two rounds in particular, where his work, particularly off his jab, was much the cleaner.
It was a very close contest.
Meanwhile Joe Ward and Adam Nolan will be in action on today and will be looking to join Conlan and Walsh in the last eight.
Note:
The 2015 European Elite Championships is acting as a qualifier for October’s World Elite Championships in Qatar, which in turn is a qualifier for Rio 2016.
The top six boxers (the semi-finalists and quarter-finalists that lose to the eventual finalists) in each of the 10 weight classes in Samokov qualify for Qatar.
Three Irish boxers – light flyweight Brendan Irvine, lightweight Sean McComb and middleweight Michael O’Reilly – will compete in the Qatar event through the quota system and they were included in a list of 30 released by the International Boxing Association (AIBA) on Monday.
