A fine endorsement indeed..2 lads who between them couldn't win a youth,senior or Elite amateur title here in our little country.
.....and the fact we Irish piddled it all away in an Olympic year with the rio fiasco, losing Billy Walsh etc shows the "strength and depth" of our stupidity....!!!
I often thought that Walsh saw what was coming and got the hell out of dodge..Bertie Ahern style. Never before had we so many top boxers in their third olympic cycle..and all about to jack or turn over... It was walsh that brokered the deal in the wsb that paddy Barnes didn't have to make weight for 2 years before rio...and didn't let anyone know. i do agree mike o reilly would not have been able cruise so much before the ganes and resort to a stupid over the counter weight loss supplements... All the boxers agree zaur is the main coach fir the national team so i guess we missed billy not for his technical savee but his organisational skills but surely somebody coukd have been put in place to do this..
I have no doubt you AM system is superior to ours. Our system is ruined by lack of gov funding and too much internal politic's and meddling and jealously. And our boys don't just get proper access to international comp and sparring. However it seems your better AM seem to suffer from burn out and the reason they thrive in Aust is the less pressured environment and the pressure to succeed. Just a neutral observation . I would be interested on Irish Member views on this.
Interesting slant on things Luca though I feel u r giving billy and definitely Bertie too much credit for foresight! I do feel if billy was in rio he wudda tracked down five star tout hickey and got something done about the open knowledge conlon fight was fixed in advance. U r right not to underestimate the level of corruption in our great little nation...some bed time reading for u...[url]https://villagemagazine.ie/[/url]
Nothing would surprise me, we still have an island attitude of we'll kkep it quite and sort it out ourselves, this one has always been a bit dodgy, 2 more that come to mind is the disappearance of women in the midlands over a 3-4 year period that screamed serial offender but was never said outloud, the gaurds in Donegal in the 80s/90s have "allegedly" help a few bad apples disappear,but that aside back to boxing matters, BIG NEWS is that we have 2 boxers fighting for world titles this weekend and a massive show in Belfast, Dohenney and Barnes both with a lot to do but certainly both are achievable goals (unlike for example Jamie conlans title shot) another 1 or maybe 2 champs by midnight Saturday would be very welcome news indeed,
I think our amateur set up is/was superb, but we suffer badly when it comes to our pro boxers. This is where we could learn from Australia who continually turn out world class fighters [ all be it they mostly fail at the highest level but then again Irish boxers only get to the same level when they travel overseas to train].
The Australians turn out fighters who fight for world titles, thats beyond dispute. How many Irish fighters based in Ireland fight for World titles? ??. None they all train in Britain, US or Australia. That's a fact also
I know butthe Australians get more boxers to the Olympics too.... Very few am or pro do well at title level...
The point I'm making is Australian pro boxing has a track record on getting some of their boxers to world title fights ( yes admittedly they mostly faulter). When did the last Irish boxer based and trained in Ireland box for a world title .
This former Irish Am star gives a insight why Irish fighters have difficulty in transitioning to the pro's. [url]http://www.the42.ie/robert-gorman-3550758-Aug2017/?utm_source=shortlink[/url]
Right time for the experts here to put money where their mouth is results of the following bouts, TJ Ward v collins Barnes Furey Frampton Ill kick off TJ loss pts Ward win pts Barnes loss pts Furey win tko Frampton win tko