Quon in 60 seconds? Not quite

CARL FRAMPTON was ready to face a bull — so really Mark Quon was just a lamb to the slaughter on Saturday night.
The Aussie was a late replacement when Spanish bruiser Kiko Martinez pulled out.

He fell in four as Frampton took out his frustrations at missing out on the European title.

Instead the Commonwealth crown was on the line and the Belfast Boy was a man on a mission.

Frampton said: “It was comfortable. You have got to give the other guy a lot of credit, he stepped up at late notice when other people didn’t want it. We’ve got this title now, whoever wants to come and try and take it they’re more than welcome. I’d love a fight with Kiko Martinez as well for the European title as well but we have to sit down and talk about it — but I want big fights.”

A right hand over the top sent Quon sprawling — and when he got up, The Jackal was on him like the lethal finisher he is, and the ref saw enough.

The 24-year-old — managed by Barry McGuigan — reckons that performance at the Odyssey stuck up two fingers to critics of his last outing.

That below-par performance came in his clear points win over fellow super-bantamweight Robbie Turley in Cardiff last June.

Frampton made hard work of that fight — but he puts it down to nerves as he was making his debut on Sky Sports.

He added: “I was maybe trying to turn it on a bit. I’ll never make those mistakes again.

Turley was a great learning fight for me to have. Everything just went perfect for me, tonight, after having the hardest training camp of my life. I was preparing for Martinez , I busted my balls really.

“Barry’s been saying a lot of good things about me and people are quick to jump on the bandwagon when you don’t perform to your best. These keyboard warriors like to shout their mouths off so it was up to me to put on a show and I’m glad I did.”

McGuigan added: “I have seen marvellous things in the gym. 

“Not everyone can convert that to the ring but I see things and say them and people go ‘McGuigan’s talking through his backside’ after I said he was the best prospect in 30 years. Maybe I should quantify that — he’s the best kid I’ve seen in that weight division down the years.”

Elsehere on the card, Eamonn O’Kane racked up win No3 in his new professional career.

Ballymena’s Joe Rea took all he had as O’Kane threw power shot after power shot over eights rounds.

He even had enough to land a few nice potshots of his own — but O’Kane was the clear winner.

Dudey's bloody hard work of it!

PAUL McCLOSKEY made bloody hard work of his job in Belfast on Saturday night — but he does not care.
That is because victory over Colombian Breidis Prescott in their WBA world title eliminator gives him a chance of finally realising his dream.
Beaten in April by Amir Khan for the world title, McCloskey was left heartbroken as the ref stepped in when he was cut above the eye.
There was blood — some — but nothing like the amount of claret that flowed against Prescott at the Odyssey.
This time it was not the sixth round — but the second in which McCloskey took some heavy fire and he had to dig as deep as he ever had to in his 24-fight career.
He was forced to endure blood pouring down his throat for the rest of the fight, spitting enough on the canvas over the following  10 r
But ‘dig deep’ he did — and now he cannot be denied another shot at glory after edging a tight unanimous decision.

McCloskey, 32, said: “My hardest fight? It probably was, aye. For attrition and hurt and having to dig deep.
“It wasn’t my best performance but he dragged me into a fight I didn’t expect. The reach was longer than I expected. I had been sparring for it. It just wasn’t the same.
The first couple of rounds I was slow and I knew I’d need to speed up. I think from the sixth, seventh on I slowed him down with a few bodyshots and I could see his power diminish. I knew this from when I studied him. He’s a four or five-round fighter and I can see now that he is.
“My trainer John Breen wanted me to throw more combinations — but it wasn’t as easy as it looked in there.”

He is right there with the proof in the thudding shots he was forced to take in the first seven rounds, before before the tide turned.
Only his superb conditioning - and sheer bloody-mindedness - saw him emerge from the trenches with a unanimous points decision.
Prescott copped the brunt of McCloskey’s attack to the body in the middle section.  His early threat had not resulted in the stoppage he predicted within six rounds.
Like McCloskey, he is desperate for a money-spinning rematch with WBA ‘super’ and IBF champion Khan, an interested spectator back in England.
But it looks like he will never again get a chance to prove his 54-second demolition job in 2008 was no fluke.
It will be McCloskey who moves on to the next level after proving he can come from behind against a heavy hitter.

McCloskey added: “My conditioning is superb — I never had any doubt that I would be able to win the fight.
“John asked me how I was feeling after seven rounds and I said ‘John I feel great’ — it was just my nose.
“I’ve been building it up a notch even since the Khan fight with my conditioner Ollie Cummings. One day I told him ‘Ollie I’m f*****’, what’s going on?’ And he said we’d taken it up a level again.”
Breen added: "What a pair of balls he has. That’s a bigger and stronger man than Khan is, yet Paul went and won five out of the last six rounds.”
While Khan is his dream fight, a match-up with WBA ‘regular’ champ Marcos Maidana is the more likely now.

McCloskey’s promoter Eddie Hearn said: “The great thing about boxing is that if you bring something to the table, you can get the fights.
“If Paul had fought tonight in a car-park with 50 people watching, he might not get the big fights.
But we’ve got Sky Sports, a great atmosphere,  the amount of people who have texted to say that and people will watch that and say ‘there’s some money to be made there’.
"And it’s a money game. Whether Khan decides to fight, or Maidana, I don’t care who it is.
He's proved to the people that he’s got the steel and determination. We all know he’s got the ability and what he showed more than anything was heart, nuts and desire. And that’s why he deserves a world title shot."

Martin Rogan: In a World of his own

THE debate has raged all week - when is a world champion NOT a world champion?

We all know the sanctioning bodies are a law unto themselves, but Martin Rogan’s trick this week takes the biscuit.

He has already refused a real match-up – in his hometown of Belfast, don't forget – with Tyson Fury for the British and Commonwealth belts, with the Irish probably thrown in for good measure.

And what does he do? Refuse it – to fight for the WBU ‘world’ title instead.

Some of the quotes from The Entertainer's cam were epic. And this gem topped the lot: “On the night of October 27 when I am Ireland’s first real heavyweight champion, I will be calling on Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko to remind them that they don’t own all the titles and they will have to come to Belfast to fight me if they want to back up their claim to be the undisputed heavyweight team.”

Now, Henry Coyle and Patrick Hyland have both won lesser world titles in Ireland this year, and both admitted the trinkets were just stepping stones to bigger fights.

But Rogan’s fight against Luis Andres Pineda – who has won only one of his last EIGHT fights – is a beauty. Ireland’s first world heavyweight champion? Give me a break. 

Anyone can be heavweight champion of the world in their own head, it's easy when you keep on dreaming.

McCloskey - Prescott: Time for Dudey to walk the walk

FOR a man who lost his biggest fight yet, Paul McCloskey has no problem telling other boxers where they come up short.

Fellow light-welters Amir Khan, Marcos Maidana and tonight’s opponent Breidis Prescott have all been dismissed.

But it’s one thing saying it, and another thing proving such talk.

Dudey takes on the Colombian ‘Khan-queror’ at the Odyssey claiming he will make the ‘crude’ visitor miss for fun.

The sharp-tongued southpaw may be right – but after his clash with Khan, it’s the toughest fight of his career to date.

Prescott’s one-minute victory over the Bolton man three years ago was unforgettable.  OK, he has lost twice since, perhaps showing Manchester 2008 was a fluke.

But he is still a class above former Dudey opponents Guiseppe Lauri and Barry Morrison, and would give Colin Lynes – McCloskey’s hardest fight yet - a good go.

 McCloskey is honest and answers questions when they are put to him.

It’s why he says he would make WBA regular champ Maidana ‘look foolish’ were they to meet, a real possibility later this year if Dudey wins tonight.

After his controversial defeat to Khan – a fight that should never have been stopped – he claimed he had made the Olympic silver medallist ‘look amateurish’.

And in the run-up to this one, Prescott has been told that he’ll be gone by the middle rounds, dazed and confused – and defeated.

It’s fighting talk and I reckon he backs it up with a points win in this WBA eliminator. But there should be a few hairy moments with it.

McCloskey swears he is concentrating on the job – despite still talking about other fighters.

He said: “I don’t care about Amir Khan. I just want to be a world champion. Even when I fought Khan it was about becoming world champion. I don’t care who I have to fight to achieve that.

“I’m one of the top fighters in the division and it’s nice to be in that position. It took a lot of hard work, time and dedication to get here.”

A chance to back up his words could come against Argie Maidana, another Khan victim. The difference is, he went all the way and missed out on a 10^th round KO by the skin of his teeth.

The Dungiven southpaw and ‘El Chino’ made contact on Twitter and agreed in principle to meet.

But McCloskey says he hasn’t logged on in a while to see if they’re still on.

He added: “Maidana was in touch with us a while back. He respects me as a fighter and I respect him.

“I think he is a great fighter but he is average enough ability-wise. He does carry one hell of a dig just like this guy I am fighting tonight.

“I would love to get a world title fight with Maidana in Ireland. The fact he is even saying he would come here is a massive boost.”

In chief support Carl Frampton’s training camp – which sees him in the shape of his life – will not go to waste as he fights for the Commonwealth title.

His fight with Kiko Martinez was set to be a thriller, until the Spaniard pulled out as his dad is unwell.

Replacement Aussie Mark Quon stepped in where Willie Casey, Rendall Munroe and several others wouldn’t.

The drama nearly brought the Jackal to tears – but it might not be such a bad thing. After all, just 10 fights into his career there is no need to rush it.

He said: “I was disappointed after hearing about the Martinez fight and I remember it was just after sparring I heard and felt like crying to be honest.”

“I trained so hard. My manager Barry McGuigan said ‘Wo do you want next?’ and I said ‘Get me anyone in Europe for that European title’.”

It wasn’t to be but he should raise a new belt tonight to add to his Celtic title.

At middleweight Eamonn O’Kane should be too sweet for ‘Sugar’ Joe Rea, even if he gets his best test to date.

Promoter Eddie Hearn has brought the Sky Sports cameras and will hope for a more certain 1-2 from Ireland.

The last time two of our lads topped the bill on the channel, in Cardiff in June, Frampton looked unspectacular in beating the unheralded Robbie Turley.

And McCloskey gym-mate at John Breen’s, Andy Murray, froze in his European title fight against Gavin Rees.

Only two big performances tonight from the bill-toppers will entice the major players back.

They’re needed in Irish boxing now more than ever with RTE still steering clear of ringsports

Christina McMahon takes boxing to the Max

CHRISTINA McMAHON is trailblazing on two fronts - and she wouldn't have it any other way.

Ireland's only professional female boxer is gearing up for the country's first-ever title fight.

The Carrickmacross 37-year-old, who has won three from three (2 KO) will take on 5-0 Maxine McCarthy in Dundalk this October for the Irish featherweight belt.

The show, promoted by BDR Promotions under Cork woman Maria Ni Shuilleabhain, features Michael Kelly at the top of the bill but the significance of the ladies' fight is one that has turned heads.

With only herself in the paid ranks here, you might expect McMahon to feel like she walks alone sometimes.

She's never going to be a Million Dollar Baby - admitting it is near impossible to survive as a female fighter here - but the opportunity to take on Salford's McCarthy, 32, is one she felt she couldn't pass up.

McMahon explained: "Opportunities like this you don't miss. I'm the first licenced female boxer in this country. That's OK - but then who do you fight?

"But it's great then that somebody like Maxine has come along. She said 'my dad's from Belfast and I'd love to fight for an Irish title'.

"Her heart is in it. It's competitive already online but after next week I'm not going to stick on the computer at all!

"I started back training in Dublin last week. I'd always keep fit but I'm not up to speed yet. 

But I'm fighting a long time, I know how to peak and how to get in shape. You feel more confident the more you train so I'm banking on that."

The pair will face off at featherweight - with Ireland's former world kickboxing champion is moving up from bantam. The visitor is going to have to boil down from super-featherweight. But it is a all part of the ring experience for McMahon, a self-confessed 'fighter'.

She added: "She's built like a brick. Let nobody underestimate her coming down, she's very strong and fit and sharp.

"But I have won world medals in all disciplines of kickboxing - semi-contact, light-contact and then full. I won the all-Ireland amateur boxing the same year I won the world kickboxing championship.

"The full contact is the ultimate. I fought abroad in that - Polish and Russians that were built like tanks. I remember sitting in the stadium and the Irish laughing and saying these girls were like men, 'oh God look at the state of them'.

"And I made a decision there and then - that those girls that looked like men were going home with the gold medal, while these out-of-conditioned Irish were laughing at them but going home with nothing.

"The next year I said I'd go out there like the Polish and the Russians and take home the medal. And that's what I did."

But if overcoming brutish opposition is no bother - and like she claimed, McCarthy is built - age is another barrier. It's the reason she turned pro, that and the fact that she felt there was nothing left for her in kicking people.

Double Olympian Phil Sutcliffe is her trainer and McMahon has now fought three times under him. Yet a promising career in the vest along with Katie Taylor beckoned for a while until the rules intervened.

McMahon added: "I was training with Pete Taylor in Bray and fought a Swedish girl with him in the February. I turned 35 in that June and that Swedish girl won the World Championships in September, and I couldn't travel with the team.

"On my 35th birthday you have to stop. The pain of that - like your career just has to stop. But it just showed me the level I was at. I took a year out then turned pro.

"People go on about age. It's not about age, it's about how your body has gone through the last few years. I don't drink or smoke, I look after my body and plus I only started kickboxing when I was 20.

"I only started peaking in my 30s. I don't know how long I have left. Maybe a year, maybe two, but I'm peaking at the moment."

At Bray she was a team-mate of the female boxer most people have heard of, in Katie Taylor, the multiple world champion and expected Olympic queen. McMahon may be a trailblazer but she's not alone.

She added: "Katie's amazing. Not just a good girl - she's good at what she does. She's walking the talk  and that's making girls look and say 'maybe I can do that'.

"I don't mind it if people don't like women's boxing, because there's sports I don't like. I started kickboxing for fitness but I realised there is a fighter in me. I don't care if there is two people or 1,000 at it. 

"I don't want it to be a brawl or a swinging match, I want ot show them that women can box like men. We have the skill, the footwork, the moves, and I want to concentrate on that.

"It's a duty to do it for other girls in the future. I can't afford to give up work either. I find the boxing is breaking me at the minute actually.

"I have to spend money on all the medical business and that so you'd like to see something coming out of it. If I was into this for the money I'd be in the wrong place. It's not about that. Opportunities have landed in my lap and I've often wondered 'why?'.

"I honestly believe this is meant to happen for me and if I give it another year or two, who knows?"

McMahon, as a personal trainer who manages a leisure centre, is glad to see boxing on the up as people seeking fitness begin boxing training all over the place.

She said:  "It's become so popular. People are seeing that it's the ultimate fitness. 

"The white collar shows can give people a bit of knowledge that its not just two fellas going into the ring and beating the head off each other - there's a bit of skill to it as well.

"Now I have people coming up to me saying 'I can't believe you do so many rounds' and all that. They're going 'we do a minute and a half and we're fecked!'."

Kenneth Egan - I'm not done yet

KENNETH EGAN is looking for a title for his new book - he may as well call it London Calling.

The Dubliner has enjoyed a career at the top of Irish amateur boxing since winning his first senior title, at middleweight in 2001.

That run came to a shuddering halt in February when Joe Ward, 17, took his light-heavyweight crown.

It will be Ward who boards the plane for Turkey this week for the European Championships, Ward who represents his country at 81kg.

But Egan, who bagged silver at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, has told the Moate teenager that it will be he who makes it to next year's Games in England's capital.

In an interview with Seconds Out, the Neilstown clubman also revealed that:

• He will NOT be going professional
• He wants to release a book 'to inspire other athletes' - and also tell of 'the madness' of being Kenny Egan
• The High Performance set-up gave him a purpose in boxing
• He sees his future in coaching the Ireland side

But despite dreams of passing on his knowledge and moving to the corner of the ring, Egan is clear that he is by no means finished. 

In fact, he does not even reckon he is the finished article at 29.

Egan said: "My time’s not up, not at all. OK I got beaten in the Seniors but that’s this year, I can’t turn back the clock - it’s done.

"Joe can go to the Europeans, he deserves it. We’ll sit down then when they get back, the whole team will get together. There will be box-offs in August ahead of the World Championships. And they are also Olympic qualifiers.

"I hope Joe gets a medal. I wouldn’t diss anyone, it’s just another competition. He’s part of it, I’m not - I wish the whole team the best of luck. They’re a great bunch of lads - even Joe - and in the last European Championships we came second on the medals’ table with gold silver and three bronze behind Russia."

But for now, Egan is 'mentally and physically drained' and the chance to recharge the batteries will do him no harm. The Dubliner, a reformed alcoholic, went to Florida last year as Ireland's first entrant into the World Series of Boxing, joining the Miami Gallos team on a three-year deal.

It's semi-pro with no headguards, no vest and less-padded gloves.  'A different type of boxing altogether - a different sport', Egan revealed.

But combatants hold their Olympics status and can still go back to their national championships. Miami was a culture shock - but just what the doctor ordered. Plus, it made Egan realise he wanted to stay amateur for life - and maybe even aim for the 2016 Olympics in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.

He said: "The World Series is not like in the amatuers, where you get in and out and score points, in this it’s all aggression, you’re working and going forward all the time. You’re trying to knock lads out. 

"When I got into the dressing room for my very first fight, I was opening up my bag when I started to panic - I head no headguard, I was after leaving it in the house! But it dawned on me, that I don’t need one.

"WSB gives young amateurs a taste of the professional game. A lot of them go pro too early and they don’t make it and they end up on the scrapheap. So this gives them a taste, and if they fancy it they can turn pro after it."

After a few months he was joined in the States by Ireland team-mate John Joe Joyce. Surely the pair of them enjoyed themselves. Long-time mates, joined together in Paradise. And why not?

Egan added:  "Well it’s very hard to have the craic with Americans - they’re not the same as ourselves! Myself and Johnny get on well together. When I got there first, the coaches were John and Pat Burns - they looked after John Duddy for a while.

"And John, the younger brother, would only call me Paddy or Mick, or Irish. He never once called me Kenny for the whole five months I was there! I was like ‘me name is Kenny!’

"The difference between the two sports is massive. The amateurs is all about slipping and punching, it’s an art, a skill I have mastered. Over there you have to stay inside a little longer, plant your feet, and blast the shots in. But I’m built for point-scoring and not getting hit."

That amateur moulding came from an early age. His hero was Michael Carruth, a friend of his brother's, and club coaches Noel Humpston and then Gerry Fleming showed him the basics. But it was when the High Performance Unit was established in 2002 that he really got going.

Coaches Billy Walsh and Zuar Antia gave him direction, made him believe. Emulating them would be his No 1 aim.

Egan said: "Zuar especially, he’s taught me so much over the last six or seven years. I’m still learning from him! It’s funny, when he came I thought I was a seven out of 10 on footwork and certain things, but he whipped that out of the water - I was a three out of 10. I’m only building into a seven out of 10 now, I was miles off target.

"I have my heart set on coaching full-time, with the Irish squad. I’d probably have to start off with the juniors, or the cadets. I’ve learned so much from the High Performance that I can’t just throw it aside."

While that can wait for a while, the professional game can wait for good. He knocked back offers in 2008 to aim for London's Olympics. But with Ward now the main man at 81kg, maybe the time is as good as any.

The WSB was the grounding, and if he thinks he is too old to turn at 29, just look at Bernard Hopkins. The oldest world champion ever at 46.

Within a year or two Britain's light-heavies such as Nathan Cleverley, Tony Bellew and the man he whupped in Beijing, Tony Jeffries, could be well within his sights.

But Egan said: "Hopkins is world champion at 46 - it’s just crazy. He’s in some shape. I know Jean Pascal from the amateur scene and he’s very very good, so to beat him… I boxed Jeffries two months before the Games and I always knew I had the beating of him. When I seen I had him in the semi-final I knew that there was no way he was going to beat me. And I went out and did it.

"But the whole pro game, I’ve watched the fights on Sky Sports and I watched James DeGale vs. George Groves - it was a bad fight. Horrible to watch, and DeGale getting booed. An Olympic gold medallist walking into an English venue and getting booed, what’s that?  There’s something wrong there but I think it’s just the way he goes on, his attitude.

"I made the decision to stay amateur and chase the dream of getting to a second Olympics. I don’t have any regrets on that. Time moves so fast, there’s three years gone already and I’ve a year left more or less.

"I’m fighting in the pro in the World Series and I’m enjoying it. It’s different over there when your hands are getting wrapped, they’re like concrete. But I’ve never really thought of turning pro at all, just the WSB. My focus is the Olympics. And who knows - maybe I can represent my country in Brazil? I’ll be 34 - if I look after myself, it is possible."

And that's what it's all about for Egan. He and Ward will go to war again in August. If their second fight avoids some of the controversy of the first it will be another to relish. First time out, Egan was leading when ref Sadie Duffy intevened in the second round twice, awarding Ward four points for the 10-time champion twice holding his head down.

It turned the fight - as Andy Lee said, it 'ruined' the fight. The kid scrapped like a warrior but needed the boost and got it.

Egan recalled: "I started well, was 4-2 up, then Sadie started knocking out warnings. It’s a senior final, know what I mean? And I think Sadie wanted to be seen on TV for it. But look, she gave me the warnings and then the fight was totally turned around within a few second and he got four points.

"That was the whole gameplan out the window then. He’s not a big puncher - he’s just physically strong. I had my tactics to keep him back but it all changed when I got the warnings."

Either way, they meet again no matter what Ward can achieve next week. The second chance afforded to those who lost in the seniors has annoyed many of the champions who want no part of the box offs.

But Egan is just desperate for another chance to qualify for the Olympics a second time. More ammo for this book?

He added: "This is not an attractive sport, we only get recognised every four years. I was going to the final qualifier in 2008 asking myself 'what will I do if I don't get there?' You always have them doubts. But you just keep your head and I think I actually won my medal when I qualified.

"I’d been around and was more or less captain of the team. The last thing I wanted was to wave all these young lads goodbye at the plane, saying ‘good luck’. April when I qualified that was my dream come true. You have other lads pulling for you... then John Joe Nevin came out of nowhere to qualify and I was like ‘ya little bollix!’  But he was brilliant. 

"There are so many people who train all their lives but never reach the Olympic Games. It was in my head before I qualified - ‘Am I going to be remembered as just an eight-time senior champion?’ I wanted more. To wear that tracksuit with the five Olympic rings on it, Ireland wrote on the back of my top. And I got there the pressure was off.

"I’m starting a book. People have read an awful lot about me over the years and all about the negative stuff. 

It’s not just about ‘the madness’, it’s about how I got to where I did, the mountains I climbed. It hasn’t been easy, it’s hard to try and remain on top for so long. I want other athletes to read it, to try and inspire them. Even before the Olympics, there were some harder times as well. But, you know, all will be revealed." 

There is no title as yet, but should he overcome and reach London, Seconds Out will be looking for a few quid after naming it for him.

EGAN ON....

Darren Sutherland's death:

We had been on Facebook chatting - he was happy. He was training away but the days were long. Worse again he was in London without his family, on his todd. I know Andy Lee is in America but he’s settled now, and well looked after. But Darren, he wasn’t used to being on his own - he was always with the team here - so it was probably harder to take. 

Pro vs Amateur divide in Ireland: 

I boxed with them all, Paul McCloskey, Carl Frampton, Andy Lee, Murray, and the Hylands. Professional boxing is doing well but it’s going to be all about the amateurs this year and next year. But that's the problem. You don’t get recognised until you reach the Olympics. So many boxers don’t get there after putting in hours and hours in the gym.

Tomorrow's talent:

Look at Joe Ward, Michael McDonagh, 17 years of age, they've improved so much after being in the High Performance. When it started, lads like me in their early 20s were only learning the basics. Now they’re coming in so much earlier. Standards have raised so we can send two or three international teams abroad - at the same time - and come back with medals.

Who's next to win medals?

I have to say Joe, for starters. He’s a good lad. He’s so young as well, he’s loads to learn. Darren O’Neill is just coming into his own now and this is going to be his year, and next. I hope he qualifies, he deserves it. That’s no disrespect to Jason Quigley. He’s No 2, but he’s only 19 and it works that way. Let O’Neill have his time, then let Jason come in after. 

Maybe going up to heavyweight?

Well I’m still light-heavyweight. I’m walking around 83, 84 kg now and when I was in Germany recently I was looking at the heavys and they were an awful lot bigger than me - but I’d be a lot faster than them. It’s something I’ve thought of but for the moment I’m staying put.

Ross Hickey - Army Man

IRELAND'S light-welterweight champion Ross Hickey is used to disarming opponents inside the ring.

But his decision to learn those same skills outside of it and in the world's war-torn regions has worked against him this week.

The Irish amateur side hit Turkey this week but left behind three senior champions - Hickey, Paddy Barnes and Adam Nolan.

The latter pair have been hit by the hand/wrist injury curse that plagues our vested boxers, but Hickey's decision was effectively his own.

The Grangeon BC fighter joined the army a few months back but his crucial 'passing out' period clashed with the pre-European Championships training trip to Germany.

Although there was little he could do about the timing of his graduation, his omission remains puzzling.

And the fact that he wouldn't be around for the preparations convinced head coach Billy Walsh that he needed a replacement at 64kg.

Beaten finalist Phil Sutcliffe has yet more trouble with his hand, so Mayo man Ray Moylette boarded the plane - just like he did for the trip to Ze Fatherland last month.

Reflecting on Hickey's announcement, made just before he won Boxer of the Tournament at the Elite Seniors in February, Walsh admitted he was surprised by the 24-year-old's choice ahead of an Olympic year.

He felt that Hickey undersold his own ability to win the seniors, having bagged bronze at the 2008 Europeans but failed to pick up a national title since.

Perhaps, he mused, the weight off his shoulders and job security aided Hickey's ability to outbox all around him at the National Stadium at the beginning of the year.

Walsh said: "He was outstanding at the seniors and is at that age now, 24, 25 where he could make a really big impact in the major tournaments.

"But he came to me just before them and said he'd entered the army. I think he'd been afraid to say something before.

"I just said 'what?' It is a blow alright, to him and to us. The army are normally great with this thing but I understand that you can’t miss your initial phase of training, and that’s what Ross is doing.

“Michael Carruth managed to mix the two with no problems but it was different back then. Ross had it in his hands, and he took it out.”

There will be box-offs for September's World Championships and Olympic qualifiers, a month prior in August. So all is not exactly lost, even if he will regret leaving this opportunity behind.

By then he will have passed out and the army press officer has confirmed that he will be free to go. Whether or not he enters those in his peak is another matter, having missed this week's action in Turkey. 


Plus, it would have offered the talented fighter a shot to gauge himself against many of Europe's best and assert his No 1 status here.


Walsh added: "He took himself out of the position. Four years is a long time, and maybe he was afraid he wouldn't win the seniors when they came around.

"He has to look at having a career outside of boxing - you don't get looked after when you're finished - and that's fair enough.

"But don't forget he's a European bronze medallist from 2008 and would have featured in our team. It's disappointing that he can't now."

Irish 2011 European Elite Championships Squad

52Kg: Michael Conlon (St John Bosco)
56Kg: John Joe Nevin (Cavan)
60Kg Michael McDonagh (St Mary's)
64Kg: Ray Moylette (St Anne's)
69Kg: Willie McLaughlin (Illies GG)
75Kg: Darren O'Neill (Paulstown)
81Kg: Joe Ward (Moate)
91Kg: Con Sheehan (Clonmel)
91+Kg: Cathal McMonagle (Holy Trinity)