National title for Ballymote boxer
On Saturday night last in theNational Boxing Stadium , JohnTighe from Ballymote won thefinal of the open youthcompetition.
In his first fight onFriday he boxed Irish championSean Thornton from the Delganboxing club , who also happenedto be the favourite for thetournament. The fight started at afast pace with the Delgan boxerpressing forward ,but he was nomatch for the speed and power ofTighe who scored well with headand body shots. The Ballymoteman stuck to the plan for the nexttwo rounds and won the bout 7points to 0
In the final he took on KarlO’Donnell from the St LukesBoxing club. O Donnell the tallerand heavier boxer tried to breakthe defence of the Sligo lad withlong straight punches and indoing so left himself open to theoverhand rights of Tighe.
ODonnell now behind had nochoice but to press forward andonly dug himself in deeper andthe Ballymote boxer cruised tovictory.This competition was aselection process fro the worldyouth championships which takeplace in april with a possibility ofqualifying for the juniorOlympics . If present formcontinues there will be great daysahead for this talented youngman.
In other boxing news DermottCasey also from Ballymote hasbeen selected to represent hiscountry as a judge ininternational competition at theBrandenBurg Cup in Germanyon the 16 February next. Dermotthas being judging at nationallevel for several years and hasestablished himself as one of thecountry’s best.
Maria Faney and MaireadKeane will take part in the Mayoopen finals Sunday next whilethe big men Alan Reynolds andChris Devaney set their sights onsenior glory on the 19th Februarynext. Their training is in fullswing with both lads training fivedays a week twice daily.
