Darren O’Connor (University of Galway) won his quarter final contest against Axel Piette of France at the World Combat Games on Tuesday afternoon to secure himself a bronze medal.

He was 4-1 down after the first round but superior quality punches in the second and third rounds meant he swept the boards in both rounds to claim a unanimous decision win. This was an all action contest followed hot on the heels of his stoppage of Japanese champion Shunsuke Kitamoto on Monday in a similar all action contest. O’Connor now boxes for at least a silver medal in Thursday’s semi finals.  read more

Light bantam John Harty opened Ireland’s account at the 2022 European Junior Championships with a 5-0 win over Azerbaijan’s Ibrahim Zeynalov. He was the first of five Irish boxers in action on Day One.

The tournament, being contested by 353 boxers, is being hosted by the Italian Boxing Federation in Montelsilvano. The competitor nations are: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Ireland, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Scotland, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey and Ukraine. read more