The Irish Athletic Boxing Association has announced the retirement of High Performance Head Coach Zauri Antia, a pivotal force in Irish boxing for more than two decades, bringing to a close an exceptional career that has shaped and elevated Irish Boxing.
Zauri’s final campaign as Head Coach was the 2025 World Boxing Championships, where Team Ireland returned with gold for 75kg Aoife O’Rourke and bronze for 65kg Grainne Walsh and 55kg Patsy Joyce.
The 63 year old left his homeland, Georgia, in 2003 to join the newly established High-Performance Unit as a Technical Coach, rising to High Performance Head Coach in 2016. He has guided Irish boxers to winning 35 qualification places at five Olympic Games: Beijing, London, Rio, Tokyo and Paris, coming home with 10 Olympic medals, famously including double gold for Kellie Harrington (Paris & Tokyo) and double bronze for Paddy Barnes (Beijing and London) and among the first women’s Olympic golds for Katie Taylor.
While Olympic success is the pinnacle of Irish boxing, Irish boxers have won 15 medals at European Games and 50 European Elite medals under Zauri’s coaching since 2004. That’s two thirds of Ireland’s total European & EU Championship Elite medals haul since 1939. On the World stage since 2004, Ireland has claimed 23 podium finishes, with only 5 World medals pre-dating Zauri’s arrival. At U22/U23 level, the haul stands at a remarkable 26 medals. Combined with multi-nations tournaments such as Strandja, Nicolae Linca and others, the tally throughout Zauri’s time with Irish boxing exceeds 150 medals.
Internationally respected for his technical expertise, innovative coaching style, Zauri’s goal has always been to develop the Universal Boxer, one “who can fight any distance, any style” and his coaching has focused on ringcraft, attack and counterattack. He is immensely proud of all of the boxers he has coached
“ I am very privileged to have been able to spend so many years doing a job I have loved.
I have watched young athletes walk into the gym with big dreams. Their hunger to learn, their respect for the craft, and their willingness to push through the toughest moments inspired me. Ireland has given me a home, and its boxers have given me purpose. To stand in their corner, to share in their struggles and their triumphs, was an honour.”
Zauri says,
“I have loved every moment of my time with Irish Boxing. What a journey! When I joined the Irish Athletic Boxing Association in 2003, high performance training was delivered in the gym at the National Stadium and the formal High Performance system was just beginning. Now, we are based in the Institute of Sport supported by world-leading Sport Science Medical practitioners. There is a strong system, with excellent coaches and wonderful boxers. Nothing stays the same always, and now is a good time for change with leaders like (High Performance Director) Jon Mackey and (coach) Damian Kennedy. Irish boxing is in good hands.
There were some difficult times over those two decades, and Zauri speaks of the strain he was under during the Beijing Games, because of conflict in his home country, Georgia “My wife, and two of my children, were in Georgia when Russian forces attacked in the war for South Ossetia. My family had to run to the mountains, while I was in Beijing with Billy Walsh and a team of 5 boxers. I was able to speak to my family every day, but this was a time of great worry. My family got home to Ireland safely – and the team came home with three medals!”
Two time Olympic champion, Kellie Harrington says
“ Zauri is one of the best boxing coaches in the world. His influence on me, and on my career, has been massive. His boxing brain, his planning, his strategies, are as exceptional as he is. I can’t quite put in to words how much he means to me”
High Performance Director, Jon Mackey, says
“What a legacy this man leaves behind. The scale of Zauri’s achievements as a coach, and the depth of his contribution to Irish boxing over 22 remarkable years, is nothing short of extraordinary. He has shaped the careers of countless athletes, guided them through the highest levels of international competition, and instilled in them the belief, discipline, and technical excellence required to succeed. Equally significant is his dedication to developing the next generation of Irish coaches. His dual commitment to both boxer and coach mentoring has ensured that his knowledge, methods, and values will continue to shape Irish boxing long into the future. That legacy is one of which he and his family can rightly be immensely proud. While we will greatly miss his presence within the high-performance programme, his contribution will continue to echo through every gym, every corner, and every Irish athlete who benefited from his guidance. Zauri leaves the programme stronger, smarter, and more confident than he found it and for that, we owe him our deepest thanks.”
IABA CEO, Gary Stewart says
“Zauri’s retirement marks the end of a truly remarkable chapter in Irish boxing. For more than two decades, Zauri has been the driving force behind our high-performance programme, a mentor to generations of Irish athletes, and a standard-bearer for excellence in our sport. Zauri’s influence extends far beyond the corner of the ring. He played a central role in shaping a system that has produced some of Ireland’s greatest sporting moments, and in doing so he inspired belief in athletes, in coaches, and in the organisation as a whole. His passion has elevated everyone around him. On behalf of the Irish Athletic Boxing Association, I want to express our profound gratitude for Zauri’s remarkable service and unwavering dedication”.
IABA President, Anto Donnelly, says
“Zauri’s retirement closes a significant chapter for Irish boxing. His professionalism, technical expertise, and commitment to high standards have played a major role in shaping our high-performance programme and developing Irish athletes. On behalf of Central Council, I want to acknowledge his contribution over many years and wish him well in the next stage of his career.”
Sport Ireland Director of High Performance Sport, Paul McDermott, says
“Zauri has had a truly remarkable impact, not only on Irish boxing, but on Irish sport as a whole. Sustaining such an extraordinary level of success over more than two decades speaks to his technical brilliance as a coach, but just as importantly to his work ethic and passion for developing athletes. His influence will be felt long into the future through the boxers he has coached and the coaches he has mentored. Beyond medals and accolades, one of his greatest gifts to the country has been the joy and pride that Irish boxing has brought to so many people for so many years.”
Zauri was born in the Georgian port town of Poti, on the Black Sea. As a boxer, he campaigned at 63.5kg and was a six-time Georgian champion and a USSR regional bronze medalist. He has a degree in Sports Science and Management, and was attested a Master of Boxing under the USSR system. As a club and then USSR regional coach, boxers under his tutelage attained Soviet, European and World Soviet finishes.
He has made Bray, Co. Wicklow his home for the last 22 years, with his wife Nona, their three children David, Natia and Georghe. Zauri is now a very proud grandfather of 6.