Kieran Joyce and coach, the late Albie Murphy
The Cork County Boxing Board (CCBB) are leading the way in the promotion of the Irish language in Irish boxing.
Boxers at the upcoming Cork County Championships for Boys aged 14,15 and 16 will be presented with medals and certificates partially written in Irish in another groundbreaking initiative from the CCBB who are the first Board in the country to introduce a bilingual certificate of affirmation.
A motion to this effect was carried at the IABA National Convention in Dublin last October, explained CCBB President Michael O’Brien.
Cork, which has the third largest concentration of clubs in Ireland after Dublin and Antrim, has been enjoying a renaissance under the CCBB in recent years both inside and outside the ring.
Thirty Irish titles were claimed by the Rebel County last season and Macroom southpaw Christina Desmond became the first Cork boxer to be included in the AIBA world rankings.
Desmond, the current Irish Elite middleweight champion, was honoured in her native County in a ceremony marking her career to date in City Hall recently. Family, clubmates and friends attended, along with the CCBB and the Cork Ex-Boxers Association.
The Deputy Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr. Joe Kavanagh, presented Desmond, who boxes out of the Fr. Horgan’s BC, with a symbol of congratulations cast in bronze which reflected her bronze medals at the 2016 European Elite Championships and 2016 World University Championships.