Boxing clever for a great year

After the most productive sporting year in his young life, Mullingar boxer John Joe Nevin has well and truly earned his Christmas break.The highly-rated bantamweight got 2011 off to a flying start by winning his fourth successive senior Irish title in February. In May he was a central figure in the Paris United team that claimed the inaugural World Series of Boxing competition, and in October he became the first Irish man to win a medal at two world championships.If that wasn't enough, his journey to the semi-finals at the worlds in Azerbaijan also earned him a place on the plane to the Olympics in London - an achievement that, for him, eclipses all others in his annus mirabilis.London will be John Joe's second Olympics in a row. In 2007, he surprised many in the boxing world by qualifying for Beijing as an 18-year-old. Displaying his understandable lack of maturity, before heading to China he proclaimed that he'd return with a gold medal; after impressing in the first round, he was defeated by the eventual gold medal winner Enkhbatyn Badar-Uugan from Mongolia.Fast forward four years, and although he is now firmly established as one of top fighters in the world in his weight division, he is also older and wiser.Rather than make any rash claims about what position he will finish on the podium next August, he prefers to talk about leaving nothing behind in the dressing room."I started to think about London in 2007, before Beijing. Nobody ever thought I'd get to the 2008 Olympics. I wasn't prepared for it myself, but I got the chance."I boxed the European number three and two to qualify for that. Everyone was writing me off. I pulled it all together and I did that."Before I even went to the qualifiers (for Beijing), the coaches were telling me that 2012 was my games and hopefully they were right and I can bring back a medal."I'm always confident, but when I went to the Olympics in Beijing I was 18 years old. I thought there was nothing like me. I met a man, the best in the world. He beat everyone else well but he beat me by only seven points which was something to take away."It drove me on to stay amateur to try and bring a medal back. I've done everything right. I've mentally prepared for the Olympics and hopefully I can stay focused. If a medal comes, it comes."My target going into the Olympics is a very good performance, to put in my best performance. If I get beaten in the first round I'll be happy, as I've given my best."Although he's had a lot more good days in the ring than bad since 2008, he knows that success is a fickle mistress."I'm 22 now. I've learned the hard way from Bejing. I still believe I can beat the best in the world. I won't say I'm the best in the world, but on my day if I give a good performance I can beat anyone. Again, if I don't give a good performance a nobody could beat me."Thanks to the exploits of the likes of John Joe and his international team mates such as Kenny Egan, the late Darren Sutherland and Paddy Barnes, Irish boxing's stock has never been higher internationally.A member of Billy Walsh's elite squad for the last four years, John Joe is still mulling over whether he will join the professional ranks after London."I said after the Olympics in Beijing that I wanted to stay for London because I was disappointed with my performance. Two years ago I said that I would turn pro right after London but the offer has to be good and for me to stay amateur the funding has to be good. "It's an investment in your life as well. You're not always going to be a boxer and you need to plan your life. I'm getting a bit older now and I have to start thinking like this. If a good offer comes, I'm gone. If it doesn't and the funding is good I'll stay."After the progress he has made in the last four years, one thing is for sure, whether he stays amateur or goes professional after London, we will certainly be reading about John Joe Nevin's exploits in the ring for quite some time.