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Golden Gloves club refuse box-off
03.04.08
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by Simon McGeady, Inishowen Independent
A FIGHT to decide whether William McLaughlin or Roy
Sheehan travels to Athens to represent Ireland in an
Olympic boxing qualifier next week could now take
place in the courtroom rather than in the ring.
It was thought that Illies Golden Gloves fighter and
Sheehan - the reigning Irish Welterweight Champion -
would meet in a box-off, scheduled for Friday the
4th of April, to determine who would take the 69kg
spot at the Athens qualification tournament for the
Beijing Olympics. |
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However it’s emerged
that the Illies Golden Gloves club are to challenge
the legality this contest.
McLaughlin defeated Joe McDonagh in a box-off in the
National Stadium three weeks ago and it had been
claimed that both boxers’ clubs’ had agreed that the
winner of that fight would take on Sheehan for
the right to go to |
Athens. Illies Golden
Gloves now say they made no such agreement.
“The IABA have stated that there will be a box-off
with Roy Sheehan on Friday 4th April. The Illies
club do not consent to the box-off, nor did we agree
to it, as has been claimed. William has earned the
right to his place in the team,” said Golden Gloves
member Sadie Duffy who added that, in the Golden
Gloves' view “the box-off is not going to happen.”
The IABA Council were scheduled to meet yesterday to
discuss a response to the Golden Gloves club’s
position.
“The worst case scenario is that the IABA order
William to fight or award the place to Sheehan. We
are prepared to get a court injunction to stop this
from happening.”
Duffy is attended a meeting of the Ulster Council of
the IABA in Derry on Tuesday. According the Illies
referee/judge, the Ulster Council support the Illies
Golden Gloves position.
Athy fighter Sheehan broke his left hand in sparring
at the Irish squad’s training camp and missed the
penultimate Olympic qualifier for European boxers,
held in the Italian city of Pescara in February.
The IABA were keen that the national champion have
another chance to make it to the Olympics and came
up with the proposal to hold an additional box off.
Mrs Duffy said the Golden Gloves club would have
made their objections public knowledge sooner, but
were keen to keep the controversy from affecting
McLaughlin, who has been training with the Irish
High Performance team in Dublin over the past couple
of weeks. |
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