Michael Nevin beat Dutch middleweight Max Van Der Pas at the Euro qualifiers for Tokyo 2020 in the last bout of the early session this afternoon.
The Laois fighter countered well in all three rounds to earn a 4-1 split decision.
Van Der Pas picked up a facial cut after an accidental clash of heads in the second, with Nevin finishing out the bout on the front foot en route to a deserved victory.
He’ll now meet Armenia’s Arman Burchinyan – who took out Italy’s No. 3 seed Salvatore Cavallaro today – for a place in the quarter-finals.
Aidan Walsh cruised into the last 16 at the expense of Pavel Kamanin in London.
The Antrim welter, whose sister,Michaela, boxes in the last 16 tomorrow, earned a unanimous decision over the game Estonian who struggled to cut down the space between himself and the Commonwealth finalist in all three rounds.
Walsh caught his opponent with some slick counters throughout, but two big backhands in the second round, the first of which rocked Kamanin, were the pick of his punches.
Earlier, Carly McNaul bowed out of the 43-nation event.
The Belfast flyweight dropped a unanimous decision to Charley Davison of Team GB in the last 16 of the tournament.
McNaul fought bravely throughout but was left with a mountain to climb after losing the first two rounds to the slick English southpaw who forced the Ulster orthodox into two standing counts in the third.
Irish captain Brendan Irvine and Kurt Walker fight for places at Tokyo 2020 in the evening session which begins at 6pm.
The losing quarter-finalist in the weights that require Top 6 or Top 5 finishes box-off for Olympic places.
Meantime, the IOC announced last night that the tournament is now closed to spectators and will be held behind closed doors because of the coronavirus outbreak.
European Qualifiers for Tokyo 2020
Copperbox Arena London March 13/24
March 16
Last 32
69kg Aidan Walsh (Ireland) beat Pavel Kamanin (Estonia) 5-0
75kg Michael Nevin (Ireland) beat Max Van Der Pas (Netherlands) 4-1
Last 16
52kg Brendan Irvine (Ireland) v Istavan Szaka (Hungary)
51kg Carly McNaul (Ireland) lost Charley Davison (Team Great Britain) 0-5
57kg Kurt Walker (Ireland) v Hamsat Shadolov (Germany)
March 17
Last 16
57kg Michaela Walsh (Ireland) v Mona Mestian (France)
60kg Kellie Harrington (Ireland) v Aneta Rygielska (Poland)
63kg George Bates (Ireland) v Javid Chalabiyev (Azerbaijan)
75kg Aoife O’Rourke (Ireland) v Viktoriya Kebikava (Belarus)
81kg Emmet Brennan (Ireland) v Uke Smajli (Switzerland)
91kg Kiril Afanasev (Ireland) V Emanual Reyes (Spain)
March 18
Last 16
69kg Aidan Walsh (Ireland) v Wahid Hambli (France)
75kg Michael Nevin (Ireland) v Arman Burchinyan (Armenia)
91kg+ Dean Gardiner (Ireland) v Petar Belberov (Bulgaria)
RESULTS
March 15
Last 32
63kg George Bates (Ireland) beat Leon Dominguez (Spain) RSCI1
81kg Emmet Brennan (Ireland) beat Radenko Tomic (Bosnia & Herzegovina) RSC2
91kg Kiril Afanasev (Ireland) beat Begadze Nikoloz (Georgia) 4-1
Last
16
69kg Christina Desmond (Ireland) lost to Angela Carina (Italy) 0-5
Irish squad
(Olympic qualification standard in brackets)
Male
52kg Brendan Irvine (St Paul’s, Antrim) Cpt (Top 8)
57kg Kurt Walker (Canal, Antrim) (Top 8)
63kg George Bates (St Mary’s, Dublin) (Top 8)
69kg Aidan Walsh (Monkstown, Antrim) (Top 6)
75kg Michael Nevin (Portlaoise, Laois) (Top 6)
81kg Emmet Brennan (Dublin Docklands) (Top 6)
91kg Kiril Afanasev (Smithfield, Dublin) (Top 4)
91+kg Dean Gardiner (Clonmel, Tipperary) (Top 4)
Female
51kg Carly McNaul (Ormeau Road, Belfast) (Top 6)
57kg Michaela Walsh (Monkstown, Antrim) (Top 6)
60kg Kellie Harrington (St Mary’s, Dublin) (Top 6)
69kg Christina Desmond (Fr Horgan’s, Cork, Garda BC) (Top 5)
75kg Aoife O’Rourke (Castlerea, Roscommon) (Top 4)
High-Performance Director: Bernard Dunne
Coaches: Zaur Antia, John Conlan, Dmitry Dimitruk