Over the years Ireland‘s prowess in the international amateur boxing arena was been well known with major medal hauls at the world and European championships as well as at the last two Olympics with 3 medals (1 silver and 2 bronze) in Bejing 2008 and not forgetting London 2012 medals haul with 4 out of the 5 medals coming from boxing with Katie Taylor delivering gold, John Joe Nevin silver and Paddy Barnes and Micheal Conlin bronze.
And the strength of our amateur boxing tradition continues to shine with new champions and records being made at most of the major championships. In June the amateur boxing team came away with 4 medals (2 gold and 2 silver) at the European Championships and this weekend they bettered that great achievement with history being made at this years AIBA World Amateur Boxing Championships held in Almaty, Kazakhstan. For on Saturday one of the stars of the European Championships, Donegals Jason Quigley become the first Irish boxer to claim a medal greater than bronze at a World championships when bringing home the silver medal in the middleweight division.
The 22 year old middleweight fighter who won gold at the European Championships in June became the first Irishman to make it to the World Championship Final on Friday, losing to the home crowd Kazakhstans more experienced fighter Zhanibek Alimkhanuly on Saturday to gain the silver. The defeat in the final put to an end a remarkable 32 match winning streak the young boxer from Ballybofey, Co. Donegal had racked up in the 18 months he has been in the senior ranks.
And there was further joy for the Irish team as 19 year old Joe Ward from Moate, Co Westmeath brought home a bronze in the lightweight division. With past medal winners at the championships including Olympic silver medalist John Joe Nevin (bronze medalist in 2009 and 2011) who recently turned professional, Quigley and Ward are in good company and look set to be major players in major championships in the years ahead including Rio in three years time hopefully adding to our proud boxing record in the Olympics.