Beijing 2008
Vladivostok, if loosely translated from Russian, means “to conquer the East”.
Beat Lukasz Maszczyk (Poland) 11-5
Lost to eventual gold medalist Zou Shiming (China) 0-15
Lost to eventual gold medalist Badar-Uugan Enkhbat (Mongolia) 2-9
Lost to eventual gold medalist Felix Diaz (Dominican Republic) 11-11 (countback)
Beat Alfonso Blanco (Venezuela) 11-1
Lost to eventual gold medalist James DeGale (Britain) 10-3
Beat Muzafer Bahram (Turkey) 10-2
Beat Washington Silva (Brazil)
BeatTony Jefferies (Great Britain) 10-3)

Michael Roche
Firat Karagollu awaited in Sydney and the Turk earned a 17-4 decision to end Roche’s and Ireland’s interest in the 74-tournament.
Karagollu went out in the next phase to Frederic Esther of France. Nicholas Cruz worked Ireland’s corner in Sydney and Martin Power was Irish team manager.

Brian Magee has his hand raised in victory v Randall Thompson of Canada at 1996 Olympics
Atlanta 1996
The Holy Trinity BC in Belfast were within touching distance of at least two bronze medals on August 30th/31st at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

Michael Carruth and Wayne McCullough
Barcelona 1992
Lost to Joel Casamayor (Cuba) 8-16
Featherweight: Paul Griffin (Drimnagh)
Welterweight: Michael Carruth (Drimnagh) – Gold
Beat Juan Hernandez (Cuba) 13-10
Lost to Arnold Vanderlijde (Holland) TKOI1
Super-heavyweight: Kevin McBride (Smithboro)

Wayne NcCullough in action at the 1988 Olympics versus Canada’s Scott Olsen
Lost to Scottie Olson (Canada) 0-5
Lost to bronze medalist Timofei Skriabin (USSR) 0-5

Moscow 1980
Hughie Russell,pictured, wrote another illustrious page in the history of Irish boxing at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow.
Lost to eventual gold medalist Petar Lessov (Bulgaria) 0-5
Bantamweight: Phil Sutcliffe (Drimnagh)
Lost to Daniel Zaragoza (Mexico) 0-5
Lost to Florian Livadaru (Romania) TKO2
Light-welterweight : Martin Brereton (Edenderry)

Gerry Hamil and Charlie Nash at the National Stadium in the mid 1970s
Montreal 1976
Brendan Dunne has the distinction of being the first Irish light-flyweight to compete at the Olympic Games.
AIBA introduced the light-flyweight class at the Mexico City Games in 1968, and Dunne, of the Phoenix BC inDublin, wore the Irish 48kg vest in the lightest of the weight categories in Canada eight years later..
The three-time Irish Elite champion, father of Irish champion and former European and WBA World title holder Bernard Dunne, made an impressive start in Montreal after stopping Asian Games silver medallist Noburu Uchiyama of Japan in round two at the Aréna Maurice Richard, an ice hockey revamped for boxing.
But the Dubliner was then beaten by eventual bronze medalist, Orlando Maldonado of Puerto Rico, in the last-16 stage.
Belfast’s Davy Lamour, who, along with 1972 Olympian John Rogers, lined out for Ireland at the inaugural AIBA World Men’s Championships in Havana, Cuba in 1974 – Lamour was beaten by eventual bronze medallist Constantin Gruiescu (Romania) at the 1st AIBA World Championships – was drawn against Robert Masuka (Swaziland) and Augustin Martinez (Nicaragua) in Montreal.
However, Lamour received walkovers, although Martinez wouldn’t have been allowed box anyway after it was discovered he was just 16-years-old, one year shy of the minimum age requirement.
It’s probable that Martinez was barred because he was underage, while Swaziland. although not listed, appears to have been one of the numerous African nations who boycotted the Games because of New Zealand’s sporting (rugby) ties with South Africa which was banned from the Olympics because of apartheid.
Either way, the Shankill flyweight, a gold medal winner for Northern Ireland at the 1974 Commonwealth Games in Christchurch, New Zealand, got byes straight into the last-eight where he was lost on points by Leo Randolph of the USA, who went on to win gold.
Gerry Hamill, Christy McLoughlin and Brian Byrne also represented Ireland in Montreal, but all three went out at the first phase of the competition, Hamill losing out to the aptly named Ace Rusevski of Yugoslavia, who took home a bronze medal from the Games.
Hamill, the 1978 Commonwealth champion, looking back on his defeat to Rusevski, had a few words of advice for young boxers – and the older ones as well.
“In 1976, I made the mistake of not listening to Gerry Storey as he had told me exactly how to handle Rusevski. I was fighting the wrong fight and not keeping him at the end of my left hand and at distance and that was to cost me in the end.
“The most important thing I tell my lads today is to listen to your corner and I know that all too well.”
The USA boxing team, which included the talents of Sugar Ray Leonard and brothers Leon and Michael Spinks, helped America to five gold, one silver and one bronze to finish on top of the medals table in Montreal.
Leon Spinks would go on to beat Muhammad Ali for the WBC/WBA World heavyweight titles in Las Vegas in 1978. However, he was stripped of the WBC belt because he didn’t defend it against the mandatory challenger, Ken
Norton, and Ali won the rematch (for the WBA title) between the 1960 and 1976 Olympic champions in New Orleans.
Cuba finished second in the medals table at the 1976 Games.
Meantime, Irish boxing would be back in the USSR four years later searching for a 7th Olympic medal.
Light-flyweight: Brendan Dunne (Phoenix)
Beat Noburu Uchiyama (Japan) TKO2
Lost to eventual bronze medallist Orlando Maldonado (Puerto Rico) TKO1
Flyweight: Davy Larmour (Albert Foundry)
Beat Robert Masuku (Swaziland) W/O
Beat Augustin Martinez (Nicaragua) W/O
Lost to eventual gold medallist Leo Randolph (USA) 1-4
Lightweight: Gerry Hamill (Holy Family)
Lost to eventual bronze medallist Ace Rusevski (Yugoslavia) 1-4
Welterweight: Christy McLoughlin (British Rail)
Lost to Colin Jones (Great Britain) 0-5
Light-middleweight: Brian Byrne (Transport)
Lost to Wilfredo Guzman (Puerto Rico) 2-3
Munich 1972
All of the Irish squad at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich recorded at least one win, with four of the Ireland panel only losing to eventual medalists.
Mick Dowling, appearing in successive Olympiads, Charlie Nash, pictured above, and Jim Montague were eliminated by Cuba’s Orlando Martinez, Poland’s Jan Szczepanski and Ray Seals of the USA, who all finished on top of the bantamweight, lightweight and welterweight podiums.
For his second Olympics in-a-row, Dowling found himself within touching distance of at least bronze only to be edged out, this time on a split decision, by Martinez in the quarter-finals.
Neil McLaughlin, meantime, lost to Uganda’s Leo Rwabwogo, who secured silver in the flyweight class at the first Olympics to introduce a white punching surface on gloves.
Nash, who won a European title in the professional ranks and challenged for a WBC belt, and McLaughlin, both of the St Mary’s and St Eugene’s clubs in Derry, also advanced to within one win of claiming at least bronze at the Boxhalle venue in Munich.
Nash beat Denmark’s Erik Madsen and KO’d Antonio Gin before losing to Szczepanski in the lightweight class, while McLaughlin saw off the challenge of Sudanese flyweight Mustafa Safid and KO’d Egypt’s Mohamed Selim in the second before losing to Rwabwogo.
McLaughlin, as quoted in Barry Flynn’s Legends of Irish Boxing, admitted that his first love was gymnastics – until he stepped between the ropes.
“I really only got into boxing by mistake. I loved gymnastics and was all set to give to try and go on and take it very seriously when I had a bit of a falling out with the teacher at the club, so I decided to leave the sport behind, he said.
“I was at a loose end and someone suggested that I go up to the St Eugene’s boxing club in the city and give the fight game a try. Well, the next thing I know I am in the ring sparring under the watchful eye of the trainer Patsy Havern and I began to realise that boxing came naturally to me.”
Jim Montague, John Rodgers and Christy Elliot also recorded wins for Ireland at the Munich Games.
The Cuban boxing team finished on top of the medals table in Munich, toppling the USSR into second place.
The legendary Cuban heavyweight, Teófilo Stevenson Lawrence, won his first Olympic gold in Germany, the first of a hat-trick. The 1972 Games were completely overshadowed by the murder of Israeli athletes and coaches by Islamic terrorists.
Flyweight: Neil McLaughlin (St Eugene’s, Derry)
Beat Mustafa Safid (Sudan) 5-0
Beat Mohamed Selim (Egypt) KO2
Lost to eventual silver medalist Leo Rwabwogo (Uganda) in the quarter-finals. TKO3
Bantamweight: Mick Dowling (British Rail)
Beat Ove Lundby (Sweden) 4-1
Lost to to eventual gold medalist Orlando Martinez (Cuba) 2-3
Lightweight: Charlie Nash (St Mary’s, Derry)
Beat Erik Madsen (Denmark) 5-0
Beat Antonio Gin (Mexico) TKO1
Lost to eventual gold medalist Jan Szczepanski (Poland) TKO3
Light-welterweight: Jim Montague (Star)
Beat Nosra Vakil Monfared (Iran) TKO3
Lost to eventual gold medalist Ray Seales (USA) 0-5
Welterweight: John Rodgers (Lisburn)
Beat Ib Botcher (Denmark) TKO3
Lost to Anatoliy Khohlov (USSR) )-5
Light-middleweight: Christy Elliott (Port of Dublin)
Beat Farouk Kesrouan (Lebanon) 5-0
Lost to Emeterio Villanueva (Mexico) TKO3

Mick Dowling with Ken Egan and RTE southpaw Jimmy Magee
Mexico City 1968
Jim McCourt, a bronze medal winner at lightweight at the previous Olympics, moved up a notch to light-welterweight for the Ciudad de Mexico Olympics in 1968.
The Irish squad that headed to the high altitude of Mexico City that year also included the formidable talents of the Arbour Hill BC trio of Mick Dowling, Eddie Tracey and Brendan McCarthy and the St John Bosco BC duo of Martin Quinn and Eamonn McCusker.
Two-time European bronze medallist Dowling – the first Irish boxer to win eight consecutive Elite titles at the same weight – won two contests in the bantamweight class.
His first outing was against Bernd Juterzenka, and the Kilkenny man made a spectacular Olympic debut, dropping the East German twice before the ref saw enough and called a halt to proceedings in the first.
He then beat John Rakowski, who was also left occupying a large area of floor space after being felled by thudding right from the Irish bantamweight in the second frame. The Australian was disqualified in the third for using his head.
That win left Dowling just one positive verdict away from winning at least bronze, but the Irish champion lost 4-1 to Japan’s Eiji Morioka, two unfair warnings tipping the balance in favour of the Asian from a very close contest. Morioka was beaten in the last-four by Valerian Sokolov of the USSR, who TKO’d Eridadi Mukwanga of Uganda in the final to finish on top of the 54kg podium.
Meanwhile, Dowling’s Arbour Hill team-mate McCarthy lost to eventual gold medallist, Mexico’s Ricardo Delgado, and Quinn, who KO’d Inoua Bodio in the first round of his opening contest, was beaten by defending Olympic champion, Josef Grudzien of Poland, who went on the claim silver.
Quinn actually floored Grudzien in the third, but the Polish fighter got back up off the canvas – after an inordinate delay of nearly 40 seconds – to have his hand raised in victory on a 4-1 decision.
Tracey beat Jamaican featherweight Errol West 4-1 in his opener but then lost 4-1 to Mexico’s Antonio Roldan in front of a very partisan crowd – and that’s putting it mildly. Roldan advanced to win one of two gold medals for the host nation.
Both McCourt and Eamonn McCusker, who lost to Cuban silver medallist Ronaldo Garbey, were beaten in their opening bouts.
Chris Finnegan won middleweight gold for Great Britain at the 1968 Olympics. Finnegan’s dad was from Liverpool and his mum from Newry.Also at the 19th Olympiad, George Foreman secured gold for the USA in the heavyweight class.
The USSR finished on top of the medals table for the second Olympics in-a-row in 1968, but their table-topping exploits were now under serious threat as the emerging amateur boxing nation of Cuba secured two silver medals to leave their calling card in Mexico City.
The double podium finish proved the springboard for the Caribbean island to emerge as one of the dominant forces in the world of amateur pugilism for the remainder of the century, and beyond.
The light-flyweight class was introduced for the first time at the 1968 Olympics. Its introduction increased the weight categories to eleven.
Lost to eventual gold medallist Ricardo Delgado (Mexico) 0-5
Bantamweight: Mick Dowling (Arbour Hill)
Lost to Eiji Morioka (Japan) 1-4
Featherweight: Edward Tracey (Arbour Hill)
Lost to eventual gold medalist Antonio Roldan (Mexico) 1-4
Lightweight: Martin Quinn (St John Bosco)
Lost to defending champion and eventual silver medallist Josef Grudzien (Poland) 1-4
Light-welterweight: Jim McCourt (Immaculata)
Lost to Gert Puzicha (Germany) 0-5
Light-middleweigh: Eamonn McCusker (St John Bosco)

Jim McCourt
Tokyo 1964
In the same year that the Beatles released their third album, A Hard Hard Day’s Night, Belfast’s Jim McCourt followed in the footsteps of the boxer he believes was the greatest to come out of Ireland.
McCourt, of the Immaculata BC, claimed bronze at the Tokyo Olympics eight years after the athlete he described as an inspiration, Johnny Caldwell, also of the Immaculata BC, won bronze at the 1956 Melbourne Games.
The Ulster southpaw, a bronze medal winner for Ireland at the 1965 European Championships in Berlin and a gold medal winner for Northern Ireland at the 1966 Commonwealth Games in Jamaica, wore the Irish lightweight vest with distinctionat the 1964 Games at the Korakuen Ice Palace in Tokyo.
A hat-trick of victories over Bun-am Sug of Korea, Ghulam Sarwar of Pakistan and Domingo Barrera of Spain saw McCourt reach the last-four, thus guaranteeing a 6th medal for Ireland from four Olympics since 1952.
Vellikton Barannikov of the USSR awaited in the semi-final, but McCourt, who had won all of his bouts 4-1 up to the semi-finals, was shaded on a split decision. Barannikov, who also edged out McCourt in the 1965 European semi-finals in Berlin, went on the reach the final, where he dropped a unanimous decision to Polish legend Jozef Grudzien, who also won silver at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City.
One year later, McCourt was given the opportunity to exact a measure of retribution at the National Stadium in Dublin when Ireland hosted Poland.
McCourt was slated to meet Grudzien, who was to find out that while Olympic champions are accorded the utmost respect at the home of Irish boxing they can expect no quarter at the South Circular Road venue.
McCourt recalled: “The place was heaving that night in expectation of the fight with Grudzien. I felt I had something to prove from Tokyo. I fought a great fight and I had him all over the ring, but the roars of the crowd spurred me on and I felt so happy when I got the decision.”
St John Bosco ace Sean McCafferty, who at 19 was the youngest member of the Irish 1964 squad, won his first bout against Sulley Shittu of Ghana in Toyko, but then lost to eventual Olympic champion, Fernando Atzori of Italy in the quarter-finals.
Smokin’ Joe Frazier, who was only selected after Buster Mathis withdrew injured, claimed a solitary gold for the USA after blasting his way into the finals where he decisioned Germany’s Hans Huber.
The host nation celebrated after Takao Sakurai won their first Olympic gold medal in boxing at bantamweight.
But boxing at 18th Olympiad was marred by protests at poor decisions, with two fighters, Spain’s Valentin Loren and Argentina’s José Roberto Chirino receiving lifetime bands for striking referees and Korea’s Jo Dong-Gi protesting his defeat with a sit down protest – in the middle of the ring – which lasted almost an hour.
The USSR topped the medals table. Ireland finished in joint 10th position in the medals table with Bulgaria, Finland, Ghana, Mexico, Nigeria, Tunisia and Uruguay in Toyko.
Flyweight: Sean McCafferty (St John Bosco)
Lost to eventual gold medallist Fernando Atzori (Italy) 0-5

Clay v Pietrzykowski – 1960 Olympic light-heavy final
Rome 1960
Irish boxing travelled to Rome for the 1960 Olympics with optimism after finishing in 4th podium position at the 1956 Games.
Five medals had been secured from the last two Olympiads, two silver and three bronze. Confidence was high ahead of competition at the Palazzo dello Sport venue.
But there was no joy for Irish pugilism in the Eternal City as none of the ten-strong squad, Ireland’s biggest ever Olympic boxing panel, medalled.
Bernie Meli, at 20 the youngest member of the Irish squad, beat Greek light-welterweight Michail Dememtre in his opening bout, but then lost to Bohumil Nemecek of Czechoslovakia, who went on to win gold.
Omagh BC lightweight Danny O’Brien also opened his account with a win, beating Esteban Aguilar from the upcoming boxing nation of Cuba. However, he then went out to the eventual silver medallist, Sandro Lopopolo of Italy, in the next round.
The great Harry Perry, a multiple Irish champion, came unstuck. The Dubliner, appearing in back-to-back Olympics and a bronze medal winner at the 1959 European Championships in Switzerland, dropped a split decision to Korea’s Ki-soo Kim in his opening bout.
Cork’s Paddy Kenny, Ando Reddy, Mick Reid and Eamonn McKeon chalked up victories in Rome.
Colin McCoy was beaten in the light-heavyweight class by Finland’s Matti Aho, who was eliminated by Bulgaria’s Petar Stankov in the last-16.
Stankov was subsequently beaten by Zbigniew Pietrzykowski in the last-eight, but the Polish fighter, who saw off the challenge of Italy’s Giulio Saraudi in the semi-finals, had to settle for silver after ending up on the wrong side of a unanimous decision to a charismatic 18-year-old American sensation named Cassius Clay.
Clay, later to change his name to Muhammad Ali, was one of three American boxers to claim gold medals in Rome, but that wasn’t enough to secure top spot of the USA in the medals table.
Clay, who endured a strong challenge from the experienced Pietrzykowski, a three-time Olympic medallist and four-time European Elite champion, in the first round of their 81kg final, was the only boxer of Irish descent to medal in Italy.
According to Thomas Hauser’s critically acclaimed Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times, Clay’s mother, Odessa Grady Clay, was the granddaughter of Abe Grady who emigrated from Clare, Ireland soon after the American Civil War and married a “freed coloured woman whose name is unknown.”
Hosts Italy, with three gold, three silver and one bronze medal, were boxing’s table-toppers at the 1960 Games.
The Rome Olympiad was the first Olympics to be televised and would mark the last time that South Africa would compete at the Games because of its policy of apartheid. Thirty two years later South Africa was readmitted to the Games by the IOC.
There was a slight change to the scoring system for boxing at the 1960 Olympiad with five judges scoring bouts instead of three.
Flyweight: Adam McLean (Crown)
Lost to Karimu Young (Nigeria) 1-4
Bantamweight: Paddy Kenny (Cork News Boys & Coventry Irish)
Beat Emile Anner (Switzerland) 5-0
Lost to Jerry Armstrong (USA) 2-3
Featherweight: Ando Reddy (Sandymount)
Beat Andre Juncker (France) 3-2
Lost to Abel Bekker (Rhodesia) 0-5
Lightweight: Danny O’Brien (Omagh)
Beat Esteban Aguilar (Cuba) 5-0
Lost to to eventual silver medallist Sandro Lopopolo (Italy) 0-5
Light-welterweight: Bernie Meli (Immaculata)
Beat Michail Demetre (Greece) 5-0
Lost to eventual gold medallist Bohumil Nemecek (Czechoslovakia) 0-5
Welterweight: Harry Perry (British Rail)
Lost to Ki-soo Kim (Korea) 2-3
Light-middleweight: Mick Reid (Crumlin)
Beat Helio Crescencio (Brazil) 4-1
Lost to Henryk Dampe (Poland) 0-5
Middleweight: Eamonn McKeon (Crumlin)
Beat Mohammed Ben Gandoubi (Tunisia) 5-0
Lost to Frederik van Rooyen (South Africa) 0-5
Light-heavyweight: Colin McCoy (Kilcullen)
Lost to Matti Aho (Finland) 1-4
Heavyweight: Joe Casey (Arbour Hill)
Lost to Obrad Sretenovic (Yugoslavia) 0-5

John Caldwell and Freddie Tiedt
Melbourne 1956
Irish boxing took home its greatest ever haul of Olympic medals – a haul which was later, as in over half a century later, matched at London 2012 and surpassed in terms of the quality of the medals (one gold, one silver and two bronze) – from the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne – but once again Ireland was denied gold following a controversial split decision.

Fred Tiedt
Flyweight: Johnny Caldwell (Immaculata) – Bronze
Lost to Claude Saluden (France) 0-3
Welterweight: Fred Tiedt (South City) – Silver

Helsinki 1952
It appears to be generally accepted that Gentleman John McNally, pictured above with his historic Olympic silver medal, wrote Irish boxing into the history books after he beat Korea’s Joon-Ho Kang in the bantamweight semi-final at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki on August 1st of that year.
That win secured at least silver, a first Olympic medal for Irish boxing.
But because the 1952 Games was the first Olympiad in which beaten semi-finalists were assured of bronze, the Belfast bantam actually guaranteed Ireland a first medal – at least bronze – twenty four hours earlier after seeing off Italy’s Vincenzo Dall’osso in the quarter-finals.
Before the 1952 Games beaten semi-finalist boxed off for bronze, but immediately prior to the Helsinki Olympics it was decided, at an AIBA Congress, to eliminate bronze medal box-offs. However, no bronze medals were awarded at the 15th Olympiad in the Finnish capital. The losing semi-finalists were presented with diplomas and their national flags raised.
The bronze medals, however, were presented retrospectively in the early 1970s at a ceremony in Helsinki, but only a handful of the beaten semi-finalist from 1952 showed up to collect their medals. Apparently, there’s quite a number of unclaimed Olympic bronze medals out there!
It was all of academic interest to McNally, as he upgraded to silver after beating Kang to set up the 54kg final with Finland’s Pentti Hamalainen at the Messuhalli Stadium on August 2nd, 1952. The stage was set, but it wasn’t to be for the Ulster ace, who had beaten Alejandro Ortuoste of the Philippines in the preliminaries, as Hamalainen was handed a controversial split decision.

John McNally at 1952 Games
Flyweight: Ando Reddy (Sandymount)
Beat Vincenzo Dall’osso (Italy) 3-0
Beat Joon-Ho Kang (Korea) 3-0
Lost to Pentti Hamalainen (Finland) 1-2
Lost to Harry Gunnarsson (Sweden) KO2
Middleweight: Willie Duggan (Crumlin)
Lost to eventual silver medallist Vasile Tita (Romania) DQ3
Heavyweight: John Lyttle (St George’s)

Boxing venue 1948 Olympics
London 1948
Irish boxing had high hopes medalling at the 1948 Olympic Games in London following a number of confidence-boosting performance in top international competition.
Prior to the first Olympiad after WW2, Ireland had made notable progress and entered its first major tournament besides the Olympics at the 1937 European Elite Championships in Milan.
Four Irish athletes, Ernie Smith, James Healy, Frank Kerr and Lydon (first name unrecorded) lined out in Italy. The quartet failed to get beyond the last-eight stage at the 5th edition of the tournament.
Two years later, however, Irish boxing announced its arrival on a international stage and medals podium at the 1939 European Elite Championships at the National Stadium in Dublin.
The Stadium, the first purpose build boxing venue in the world, was officially opened amid great pomp and ceremony that year and the then Irish Amateur Boxing Association, now the Irish Athletic Boxing Association, proudly hosted its first major tournament at the South Circular Road venue.
The Boys in Green didn’t disappoint on home turf, with Jimmy Ingle and Paddy Dowdall winning flyweight and featherweight gold and Charles Evenden securing bronze after a box-off victory.
The haul saw Ireland finish in second spot in the medals table behind Italy. Ingle was 17-years old, and, along with Rio 2016 Olympian Joe Ward, who won European Elite gold aged 17 in 2011, is the youngest ever Irish European Elite champion.
Meantime, the IABA also hosted the 1947 European Championships, the first European Championships after WW2 (although Germany, of all nations, hosted an unofficial European Championships in Germany in 1942. The results were annulled by AIBA after WW2), at the National Stadium.
Gearoid O’Colmain won gold after beating England’s George Scriven in the heavyweight decider and Pete McGuire secured silver in Dublin to help Ireland finish in third spot in the medals table.
O’Colmain was named on an eight-strong Irish squad for the 1948 Olympics, but the Dubliner, who worked as a blacksmith, dropped a points decision to Italy’s Uber Baccilieri in his first bout.
Maxie McCullagh fared better, beating Finland’s Tauno Rinkinen and Great Britain’s Ronnie Cooper before losing to Danish lightweight Sven Wad in the quarter-finals.
Ireland’s injury jinx struck again in the middleweight class. Mick McKeon won three bouts in this division, beating Canada’s John Keenan, Iran’s Hossein Toussi and France’s Aime Joseph-Escudie before losing to Johnny Wright of Great Britain in the semi-finals. Wright was beaten by Hungary’s Laszlo Papp in the final.
But the Dubliner, whose brother Eamonn represented Ireland, also at middleweight, at the 1960 Olympics, picked up an injury in his last-four duel with Wright and had to withdraw from the box-off for bronze with Italy’s Ivano Fontana.
London 1948 marked the fourth successive Olympics where an Irish boxer reached the semi-finals – which would be enough to secure at least bronze under today’s rules.
Willie Lenihan, who won two bouts, Kevin Martin and Peter Foran, who was beaten by eventual silver medallist, Horrace Herring (USA), and Hugh O’Hagan also registered victories at the 14th Olympiad.
The London Games set a new record for entries for boxing with 205 athletes from 39 nations competing across eight weight divisions.
The Games also took place under the auspices of the Association Internationale de Boxe Amateure (AIBA), who had replaced the Fédération Internationale de Boxe Amateur (FIBA) in 1946. FIBA was dissolved because it had, according to reports. lost credibility because of the conduct of some of its officials during WW2.
The weight limits in each division, which had remained static since 1920, were adjusted to metric measurements for the 1948 Games, e.g., the light-heavyweight class limit changed from 175 lbs./79.38 kg. to 80 kg./177 lbs.
The venue for boxing at the 1948 Games was actually a temporary drawbridge laid out over the Empire Pool at Wembley (pictured above). Earls Court was also used as a venue for boxing at the 1948 Olympiad.
The 1948 squad won ten and lost nine bouts. Ireland’s stats from four Olympics now stood at: 28 boxers (including boxers who represented Ireland twice) used: Wins 20. Losses 31 (including walkovers for and against). Four boxers through to semi-finals).
Meantime, Ireland’s wait for that elusive Olympic medal in boxing would last another four years when a young man from Belfast punched his way into the history books.
.
Flyweight: Alf William Barnes (Windsor)
Lost to Frantisek Majdloch (Czechoslovakia) Pts
Bantamweight: Willie Lenihan (Arbour Hill)
Beat R.G. Behm (Luxembourg) Pts
Beat Olavi Ouvinen (Finland) PTS
Lost to Giovanni Battista Zuddas (Italy) TKO3
Featherweight: Kevin Martin (Mount Street)
Beat Nicholas Linneman (Holland) Pts
Lost to eventual gold medallist Ernesto Fermenti (Italy) 0-3
Lightweight: Maxie McCullagh (Corinthians)
Beat Tauno Rinkinen (Finland) Pts
Beat Ronnie Cooper (Great Britain) Pts
Lost to Sven Wad (Denmark) Pts
Welterweight: Peter Foran (St Andrew’s)
Beat Gareeb Afifi (Egypt) Pts
Lost to eventual silver medallist Horace Herring (USA) Pts
Middleweight: Mick McKeon (ITC)
Beat John Keenan (Canada) Pts
Beat Hossein Toussi (Iran) Pts
Beat Aime-Joseph Escudie (France) Pts
Lost Johnny Wright (Great Britain) Pts
Bronze medal box-off
Lost to Ivano Fontana (Italy) W/O
Light-heavyweight: Hugh O’Hagen (Corinthians)
Beat Hans Schwerzmann (Switzerland) Pts
Lost to Adrian Holmes (Australia) Pts
Heavyweight: Gearoid O’Colmain (North City)
Lost to Uber Baccilieri (Italy) Pts

Irish athletics legend Bob Tisdall
Los Angeles 1932
The Irish Amateur Boxing Association sent a four-strong squad to the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles, but the squad didn’t exactly travel to the USA with the ringing endorsement of all of Irish boxing.
Some of the biggest County Boards in the country expressed the view that the panel might not be up to task and even suggested at a Central Council meeting – a suggestion which went down like a led baloon – that the quartet should test themselves in the ABA Championships (English Championships).
The IABA Central Council overruled the County Boards in question, as reported in the Irish Independent and the Irish Times and various over publications in 1932, and the squad were dispatched to the USA as selected.
Paddy Hughes was the first into the ring in LA, but he was beaten by Argentina’s Carlos Alberto Pereyra in the bantamweight class, while Ernie Smith received a bye into the quarter-finals where he dropped a points decision to Argentina’s Carmelo Robledo, who went on to claim gold after beating Germany’s Josef Schleinkofer in the featherweight final.
Four years prior to the LA Games, Robledo was beaten by Ireland’s Frank Traynor in the quarter-finals at the Amsterdam Olympics. Welterweight Larry Flood also lost out in southern California, while Jim Murphy, boxing in the light-heavyweight class, was the only Irish boxer to record a victory.
Murphy, who receivd a bye into the last-eight, beat John Miller of the USA in the quarter-finals, but was then retired injured in the first round of his semi-final with Italy’s Gino Rossi – who lost to David Carstenes (South Africa) in the final. The injury also forced Murphy to withdraw from the box-off for bronze with Denmark’s Peter Jorgensen.
85 boxers from 18 nations competed across eight weight categories at the 1932 Games between August 9th to 13th of that year. Argentina stunned the world of amateur boxing after securing two gold and one silver medal to finish on top of the medals table ahead of the USA at the Olympic Auditorium venue.
The ref was inside the ring for the 1932 Games, as opposed to sitting on a high stool outside the square circle, and in a new innovation boxers wore red and green ribbons around their waist. American heavyweight Jack Dempsey, who was of Irish/Cherokee descent, was one of the celebrities that attended the X Olympiad.
Ireland claimed two gold medals in LA, with Pat O’Callaghan winning his second gold in-a-row in the hammer throw and Bob Tisdall finishing on top of the podium in the 400m hurdles in a world record time of 51.7. However, the record was not recognised under the rules as Tisdall clipped a hurdle en route to victory.
The 1932 Games marked the last occasion that an Irish athlete competed at the Olympics before WW2 as Ireland did not enter the 1936 Games in Berlin. A number of publication, particularly in the USA, have reported that Ireland boycotted the 1936 Olympiad because of objections to Nazi Germany.
But the reason Ireland didn’t participate at Berlin 1936 was because of myopic wrangling in relation to flag and anthems and administrative authority between various national sporting bodies. There had been talk of an Irish boxing squad fighting in Berlin under the flag of the then International Boxing Association, but that also fell through.
From a boxing perspective, the non appearance at the 1936 Games was regrettable as the Garda boxing club at the time were clearly the backbone of Irish boxing and renowned throughout Europe. It was felt that a Garda boxer would surely have won a medal in the German capital.
But the bottom line was that Irish boxing would not throw a punch at an Olympid until after the guns fell silent on WW2.
Ireland’s pre WW2 statistics from three Olympics read: 20 boxers used. Wins 10. Loses 22 (including walkovers). Three boxers reached their respective semi-finals (enough for a bronze medal under today’s rules).
Bantamweight: Paddy Hughes (Corinthians)
Lost to Carlos Alberto Pereyra (Argentina) Pts
Featherweight: Ernie Smith (St Andrew’s)
Lost to Carmelo Robledo (Argentina) (eventual gold medallist) Pts
Welterweight: Larry Flood (Army)
Lost to Robert Barton (South Africa) Pts
Light-heavy: Jim Murphy (Army)
Beat John Miller (USA) Pts
Lost to Gino Rossi (Italy) TKOI1
Bronze Medal Box-Off
Lost to Peter Joergensen (Denmark) W/O
Amsterdam 1928
The Irish Athletic Boxing Association, then the Irish Amateur Boxing Association, informed the media that they had ratified their squad for the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam in June of that year.
Myles McDonagh, Frank Traynor, George Kelly, Willie O’Shea, PJ Lenehan, Jack Chase, WJ Murphy and Matt Flanagan would represent Irish boxing at the 9th Olympiad. All were current Irish Elite champions from the 1928 Irish Championships.
A record entry of 84 boxers, surpassing the previous year’s entry of 54, registered to compete at the 1928 Seniors in Dublin. Two of the titles, flyweight and welter, were vacant as defending champion George Kelly moved up to bantam and TJ Finn withdrew with an illness. The weigh-in was held between 8am and 12.30pm at Portobello Barracks. The IABA advised boxers – which they are still doing nearly a 100 years later – to weigh-in as early as possible to facilitate the draw.
Most of the 1928 Irish champions were included on an international team that won ten of eighteen bouts against Scotland at Portobello Barracks in 1928. The Olympic team also won seven of the eight bouts against Denmark at Dalymount Park in April of that year.
Matt Flanagan, who was selected as Irish flag bearer for the 1928 Games by the Olympic Council of Ireland, was the only Irish boxer not to win. His heavyweight bout with Niels Andreasen, described as a gigantic southpaw with a gap-toothed smile, was ruled a draw. The Irish Independent and Irish Times reported that just over 9,000 attended the meeting between Ireland and the Danes at the home of Irish football. Denmark also lost to the Irish Olympic reserve team at the Curragh a few days later.
Tipperary’s Paddy Dwyer, who had reached the semi-finals at Paris 1924, was Irish head coach for the 1928 Games which marked the first occasion that entries were limited to one boxer per weight division per nation. 144 boxers from 29 countries competed.
Dublin-born Frank Traynor also reached the last-four in Amsterdam on August 10th, 1928.
The St Paul’s BC champion blasted his way into the last-four at the Krachtsportgebouw venue after recording wins over Fuji Okamato (Japan) and Carmelo Robledo (Argentina) before losing out to Italy’s Vittorio Tamagnini in the semi-finals.
He also lost out on points to Jewish bantamweight Harry Isaacs (South Africa) in the box-off for bronze.Willie “Boy” Murphy (Garda), who had won his first bout at the Paris Games in 1924, once again got off to a winning start in Amsterdam, this time out via a sensational first round KO of Spain’s Jose Montilor Pastor.
But Murphy, who represented the Army at middleweight in Paris, exited after dropping a points decision to Germany’s Ernst Pistulla, who went on to claim silver, in the next phase.
PJ Lenihan and Jack Chase also secured wins for Ireland in the welterweight and middleweight classes, while Flanagan lost to eventual gold medallist, Arturo Rodriguez Jurado of Argentina.
As in Paris four years previously, boxing at the 1928 Games was contested across eight weight classes – flyweight, bantamweight, featherweight, lightweight, welterweight, middleweight, light-heavyweight and heavyweight.
The Amsterdam Olympiad marked the first time that an Olympic flame was lit at the modern Games and all athletes were given strict guidelines by the Federation International De Boxe Amateur (FIBA) and the Intrnational Olympic Committee as to what what exactly constituted an amateur.
“An amateur is one who has never competed for a money prize, staked bet or declared wager, who has not competed with or against a professional for any prize (except with the express sanction of the Amateur Boxing Association of the nation of which he is a member), and who has never taught, pursued or assisted in the practice of athletic exercises as a means of obtaining a livelihood or pecuniary gain.”
There was no World Series of Boxing or AIBA Pro Boxing in 1928!
Italy finished on top of the medals table in the boxing event after claiming three gold medals and one bronze.
The legendary Pat O’Callaghan won gold at the 1928 Games in the hammer throw, Ireland’s first gold medal at the Olympics.
Ireland’s boxer helped shoulder our first Olympic champion, who was a good friend of Willie “Boy” Murphy, onto the boat home from the 1928 Games, but the search for Ireland’s first boxing medal would extend to Los Angeles 1932.
Meantime, Irish boxing won 9 and lost 17 bouts from both the Paris 1924 and Amsterdam 1928.
Flyweight: Michael “Myles” McDonagh (Army)
Lost to Brian Bril (Holland) Pts
Bantamweight: Frankie Traynor (St Paul’s)
Beat Fuji Okamato (Japan) Pts
Beat Carmelo Robledo (Argentina) Pts
Lost to Vittorio Tamagnini (Italy) Pts
Bronze medal box-off
Lost Harry Isaacs (South Africa) Pts
Featherweight: George Kelly (North City)
Lost to Rasmus Madsen (Denmark) Pts
Lightweight: Willie O’Shea (Army)
Lost to Jorge Diaz Hernandez (Chile) Pts
Welterweight : PJ Lenihan (St James)
Beat Arne Sande (Denmark) Pts
Lost to Ray Smillie (Canada) Pts
Middleweight: Jack Chase (Garda)
Beat Alfred Wilson (South Africa) Pts
Lost to to Leonard Steyaert (Belgium) Pts
Light-heavyweight: Willie ‘Boy’ Murphy (Garda)
Beat Jose Montilor Pastor (Spain) KO1
Lost to eventual silver medallist Ernst Pistulla (Germany) Pts
Heavyweight: Matt Flanagan (Garda)
Lost to eventual gold medallist Arturo Rodriguez Jurado (Argentina) Pts
Paris 1924
Tipperary’s Paddy Dwyer wrote Irish boxing into the history books after recording our first win at the Olympic Games on July 15,1924.
Ireland entered the Olympics for the first time as an independent nation at Paris 1924, and Dwyer, nicknamed Rocky, beat Great Britain’s Richard Basham in the preliminaries and followed that up with a positive decision over Dutch welterweight Anton Cornelius.
He then KO’d Francois Stauffer (Switzerland) in round three of their quarter-final before being stopped in the third frame by Argentina’s Hector Eugen Mendez – who was beaten by John Delarge of Belgium in the final – in the last-four.
Dwyer’s loss is offically recorded as a TKO3, but, according to reports, the Irish fighter had to retire with a deep gash in his forehead because of his opponent’s illegal use of his head.
The last-four finish 92 years ago would have been enough to have earned the man from the Premier County a bronze medal under today’s rules governing the awarding of Olympic silverware.
However, prior to the 1952 Games, losing semi-finalists had to box-off for bronze and Dwyer lost to Douglas Lewis (Canada) in the contest for third place on a walkover because of his injury from the semi-finals.
Cork’s Willie “Boy” Murphy, a boxing coach in Clonmel, also recorded a win for Ireland at the 1924 Games, the Army middleweight beating Poland’s Jerzy Nowak before losing to Leslie Black of Canada in the quarter-finals.
Dwyer, Murphy, Myles McDonagh, Robert Hilliard, Mossy Doyle, PJ Kelleher and JC Kidley represented Ireland in the boxing event in Paris. Doyle was beaten by Jackie Felds, who was advised to change his name by his coach as his real name, Jacob Finkelstein, didn’t sound “tough enough”.
Fields, who has been confirmed as the youngest Olympic champion of all time aged 16 by the International Boxing Association, has been inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame and Jewish Boxing Hall of Fame.
Meanwhile, the middleweight final at the 1924 Games was not without controversy as Great Britain’s Harry Mallin, who had won gold at the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp, was beaten in the quarter-finals by Roger Brousse of France.
However, Brousse was disqualified on appeal after medical evidence suggested that Mallin had been bitten during their last-four clash. Mallin, who retired unbeaten as an amateur and never turned pro, then advanced to beat John Elliot, also of Great Britain, in the final. Nations could enter more that one boxers in each weight in Paris.
Robert Hilliard was one of the more colourful characters with the Irish squad. The Irish Olympian and Trinity College student was the only non-army boxer with Team Ireland.
The Killarney-born Irish Elite champion was, at varying times, a Church of Ireland pastor, Republican, Marxist, Atheist, journalist, boxer and soldier in his short life. He volunteered for the Connolly Column for the Spanish Civil War and died fighting for the International Brigades in 1937 aged 32.
Ireland’s first bantamweight at the Olympics is mentioned in the Christy Moore song Viva la Quinca Brigade, a tribute to the men who fought in the Spanish Civil War.
“Bob Hilliard was a Church of Ireland pastor; From Killarney ‘cross the Pyrenees he came,” sang Moore.
Scotland-born James ‘Tancy’ Lee, an army instructor and former British champion, was Irish head coach at the Paris Olympics. Ireland’s chief seconds said his job was to “teach men to fight without bullets.”
Paddy ‘Rocky’ Dwyer died in 1948 in Thurles and is buried in St. Patrick’s Cemetery. A plaque was erected to the first Irish boxer to reach an Olympic semi-final on Limekill Lane in 2002. Rocky finished in fourth spot at the 1924 Games.
Twenty seven nations, represented by 181 boxers, competed across eight weight categories in the boxing event at the 1924 Olympiad.
The USA finished on top of the medals table after claiming two gold, two silver and two bronze medals in the boxing ring in the French capital.
All of Ireland’s athletes at the 1924 games received participation medals.
Flyweight: Michael “Myles” McDonagh (Army)
Lost to Ruperto Bieta (Spain) Pts
Bantamweight: Robert Hilliard (Trinity College BC)
Lost to Benjamin Pertuzzo (Argentina) Pts
Featherweight: Mossy Doyle (Army)
Lost to eventual gold medallist Jackie Fields (USA) Pts
Lightweight: PJ Kelleher (Army)
Lost to Ben Rothwell (USA) KO2
Welterweight: Paddy Dwyer (Army)
Beat Richard Basham (Britain) Pts
Beat Anton Cornelius (Holland) Pts
Beat Francois Stauffer (Switzerland) KO3
Lost to Hector Eugen Mendez (Argentina) TKOI3
Bronze medal Box-Off between losing semi-finalists
Lost to Douglas Lewis (Canada) W/O
Middleweight: Willie ‘Boy’ Murphy (Army)
Beat Jerzy Nowak (Poland) KO1
Lost to Leslie Black (Canada) Pts
Light-heavyweight: John Kidley (Army)
Lost to eventual bronze medallist Sverre Sorsdal (Norway) TKO1