THREE-TIME EUROPEAN champion Joe Ward has committed his future to Irish amateur boxing, and will captain the country at next month’s World Championships in Hamburg.
Ward has been the subject of contact from a number of top European promoters regarding a potential move to the professional ranks, and is understood to have seriously considered a pro move, but was convinced by IABA High Performance Director Bernard Dunne to remain amateur until Tokyo 2020.
The 23-year-old Moate light-heavyweight is a medal favourite for the World Championships having secured a historic third European gold by beating Russia’s Muslim Gadzhimagomedov on a unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27, 29-28, 29-28) at the Lokomotiv Sports Palace in Kharkiv, Ukraine, last month. In doing so, he became the first Irish boxer in history to win three European golds.
Ward, the 2015 World silver medalist, won World Junior gold in Yerevan, Armenia in 2009, and World Youth gold in Baku, Azerbaijan in 2010. He also picked up a World bronze medal as a Senior in 2013.
He’s already one of the most decorated Irish amateur athletes in history, and will have at least three more years in which he’ll be expecting to add to his incredible medal haul before turning his sights towards boxing’s professional ranks.
Ward will be 26 should he turn professional after Tokyo 2020, and likely one of the most coveted prospects in world boxing should he continue on his current trajectory.
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