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Local featherweight wins Senior
Open
24.07.09
Tyrone stakes claim for
World Championship spot
by Simon McGeady, Inishowen
Independent
TYRONE McCullagh has significantly increased his
chances of being selected to compete at the AIBA
Senior World Championships at the start of September
following a superb victory in his debut Irish Senior
Open at the National Stadium on Friday evening.
The 18 year old Illies Golden Gloves product
defeated Sean Kilroy (Holy Family Drogheda) 7-0 in
the featherweight final.
The Irish Amateur Boxing Association used the Open
Senior Competition as part of their selection
process for the World Championships, which begin in
Milan on 1 September.
McCullagh eliminated European Union featherweight
champion David Oliver Joyce in the semi-final and
Joyce remains his main rival for the 57kg spot on
the plane to Milan. |
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“I will be very
disappointed if I am not selected for the Irish team
now, but I know that David has beaten a lot of fine
fighters and has done well in international
competition before,” said McCullagh, adding that it
would be brilliant for his club if both he and
William McLaughlin were named in |
the Ireland team.
Last Friday’s national featherweight final turned
out to be a one sided affair.
“I’d not come up against Kilroy before, but I knew
going into the bout that he was a ‘come forward’
boxer, just like Joyce. I had my tactics in place
and was able to pick him off as he came at me. Once
I got a couple of points up I knew I had him exactly
where I wanted him. He caught a public warning in
the third round and I scored a couple more points at
the end of the match,” said McCullagh, whose recent
decision to move up a weight division from bantam to
feather has been vindicated.
“I have competed in Cadet and Junior World
Championships and am ready to make the step up to
Senior international level,” he added.
Reigning Irish middleweight and welterweight
champions Darren O'Neill and William McLaughlin
withdrew from the tournament after picking up
injuries at last months EU Championships in Denmark.
Beijing bronze medalist Paddy Barnes and his 2008
Olympics team-mate John Joe Nevin, the reigning
Irish light flyweight and bantamweight champions,
have both received walkovers.
Both Illies Golden Gloves boxers will hope to
impress in next weeks multi-nation round robin
event.
“If I can get one or two wins in the round robin,
hopefully that will be enough to convince the
selectors to pick me for Italy,” said McCullagh. |
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