Olympic Boxing Club is officially Ireland's best
Six months after being awarded the title of the best club in Leinster, Olympic Boxing Club, Mullingar are celebrating again, after being named joint best boxing club in Ireland by the IABA last week.
Olympic, founded just four years ago and currently based in Columb Barracks, won 15 All-Ireland titles in 2018 – the same number as Drimnagh Boxing Club, the home club of Irish boxing icon Michael Carruth, who won gold at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona.
“When the club was founded four years ago, we set best club in Leinster within four years and best club in Ireland within five to six years as our targets,” said Derek Sheridan, one of the club’s founding coaches.
“To reach those targets in our fourth season is something special, and we’re going to work hard to become the best club in Ireland outright next year.”
Eleven Olympic BC boxers won All-Ireland titles in 2018, some of them doubling up with Cadet All-Irelands.
With the oldest boxer in the club just 15 years of age, the club hopes to have one of its own at the Olympic Games in Paris (2024) and Los Angeles (2028).
Olympic BC’s All-Ireland winners in 2018 were as follows:
Boy 1 – Alfie Jordan, 27kg; Ryan Jenkins, 37kg; Bernie Stokes, 54kg
Boy 2 – Patsy Joyce, 29kg (All-Ireland champion and Cadets All-Ireland champion); Tadhg Sheridan, 31kg (All-Ireland champion and Cadets All-Ireland champion); David Geoghegan, 50kg
Boy 3 – Michael Nugent, 38.5kg; Jason Nevin, 43kg (All-Ireland champion and Cadets All-Ireland champion; represented Ireland in the Europeans and was beaten on a split decision in the quarter-final by the English champion, who went on to win gold)
Youth 1 – Johnny Joyce, 42kg (All-Ireland champion and Cadets All-Ireland champion)
Girl 4 – Leah McNamee, 52kg
Boy 4 – Bonvie Ndevi, 81kg (Cadets All-Ireland champion).
Mullingar fighter JJ McDonagh has arguably the biggest fight of his career on Friday when he fights Chris Eubank Jr in Saudi Arabia.
McDonagh, the reigning Irish super-middleweight champion, will fight Eubanks on the undercard of the World Boxing Super Series final between George Grove, who defeated Eubanks in the semi-final, and Callum Smith in Jeddah. He is confident that he will win on Friday.
"I’m surprised he (Eubanks) did not retire after he embarrassed himself against Groves," McDonagh said. "Eubank is a fit man but he does not know how to fight hard, I’m a fighting man from a fighting family of generations of fighters. I am going to knock him out."