BILLY WALSH is putting the saga surrounding his future as Irish head coach on the backburner as he helps Ireland’s seven-man team prepare for next week’s World Championships.
Team Ireland are in Assisi, Italy for a training camp before travelling to Doha on Friday for the Worlds, which get underway on Tuesday.
With the tournament acting as a qualifier for the Rio Olympics, Walsh maintains that he is fully focused on his team despite the uncertainty that has surrounded his position since reports linked the Wexford native to a coaching position with the US women’s boxing team.
“From time to time it has been [a distraction], but I’m 100 per cent focused on this team and getting to Doha and them performing to the best of their ability. We’ll see where we are after that,” said Walsh, who was unwilling to comment on his negotiations with the Irish Amateur Boxing Association (IABA) on his future. “It’s in negotiations so I’ll say nothing about it,” he told The42.
Walsh has no in-ring worries as things stand, however, with Belfast’s Seán McComb and Brendan Irvine both shaking off arm injuries to participate in this week’s tune-up.
McComb recently made headlines when apprehending two muggers in separate incidents in his native Belfast and must reach the final or win a third-place box-off to reach Rio, while Irvine faces the mammoth task of reaching the light-flyweight decider if he is to potentially challenge Paddy Barnes for an Olympic place down the line.
“Thankfully we saved them from rigorous sparring before coming here and that was down to the fact that they were injured,” explained Walsh. “The plan was that our sports-science people would have them right so they could avail of the quality sparring here.
“You could see on the first day that they weren’t as sharp as everyone else but you can see now that they’ve improved rapidly and they really look up to speed and they’re flying it.”
Recently-crowned European champion Michael Conlan was this week confirmed as captain of the team for the Worlds, with fellow European Championship gold medalist Joe Ward also set to feature. London 2012 Olympian Adam Nolan, European Games champion Michael O’Reilly and European bronze medallist Dean Walsh (nephew of Billy) make up the team.
The seven-man team have been pitched against Azerbaijan, Bulgaria and Italy in ‘test’ bouts as they aim to peak for action in Doha where most weights require a top-three or top-two finish to qualify for the Olympics.
“We’re tapering off, but the main reason for us being here is to get quality sparring so everything else is based around that and we’re trying to get ourselves in the best place we can be for those sparring sessions,” said Walsh ahead of further test bouts this evening.
The Irish head coach praised the level of competition they’ve come up against so far
“All these guys have qualified for the World Championships so it’s a good standard, they had to be in the top five in Europe to qualify. Bulgaria have qualified six boxers, Italy have qualified six, Azerbaijan have qualified 10 so they’re all top quality. Costa Rica have only qualified one boxer for the Worlds and that guy is also over here training,” added Walsh.
