LAST MONTH’S EUROPEAN Boxing Championships in Kharkiv, Ukraine saw Ireland dine at the adult’s table once more, with Joe Ward winning a historic third consecutive gold medal, and up-and-comers Brendan Irvine and Kurt Walker accruing bronze during a fantastic continental campaign.
While the tournament as a whole was a rousing return to form on a major stage for Zaur Antia’s team, the latter pair’s fellow Belfast native Sean McComb experienced a continental campaign of peaks and troughs. The Holy Trinity light-welterweight beat reigning world champion Vitaly Dunaystev of Russia in the last 16, in doing so securing qualification for next month’s World Championships in Hamburg. It was his second victory over the Eastern phenomenon in three months, with McComb having previously bested Dunaystev at an IABA-hosted round robin tournament back in May.
The 24-year-old would ultimately fall short of a podium finish, however; he was narrowly edged by Britain’s Luke McCormack just shy of the medal rounds, and was understandably devastated to return empty-handed. Speaking to Irish News the day after his exit, McComb said victory over Dunaystev and qualifications for the Worlds was “worth fuck all,” given he had been travelling to Dublin for High Performance training off his own back since his Sport Ireland funding ended earlier in 2017, and had been doing so with nothing but a European medal in mind. Missing out on a medal also severely dented his chances of receiving funding in 2018, a prospect which left McComb on the precipice of going pro.
The dust has all but settled three weeks on. New IABA High Performance Director Bernard Dunne fought McComb’s corner and, after conversations with both Sport Ireland and the IABA, as well as McComb’s family and coaches back in Belfast, ‘Sugar’ Sean is financially secure for the time being, allowing him to train at Headquarters in Dublin full-time. With such comforts comes a more considered reflection on his own tournament in June, and the positives he took from it as he gears up for Hamburg next month.
“The main thing was my performance, I performed very well,” he tells The42. “All the boxes were ticked during my performances in the ring, against each opponent – not just the fight that I lost, but the two fights previous to that.
“I was getting better and better as I went on through the tournament. Before I went, I thought I was going to do a lot better than I did. It was just unfortunate the way things turned out, but look, it’s given me a big confidence boost after beating the world champion and stuff like that, heading towards the World Championships. It just shows you how competitive it is: the Russian guy I beat is reigning world champion, reigning European champion, and current Olympic bronze medallist – and he didn’t even qualify for the Worlds. I’m not even ranked at 64[kg], and I beat him. So he’s not going to be there now, at the Worlds.
“There’s always guys out there who people mightn’t have heard of or whatnot, and you can’t underestimate anyone at these big tournaments at Elite level. Everyone is right up there. So I’m going towards the Worlds with a positive mindset, and I’ve put the Europeans behind me. It’s all well behind me now, and I’m focusing on stuff I can work on, thriving on the loss, and I’ll try to make up for it at the World Championships by winning a World medal.”
It’s with the benefit of hindsight McComb realises that had he exited the competition a round sooner, and missed out on Worlds qualification, he’d likely no longer be an amateur fighter. As such, he views August’s AIBA showpiece in Germany as an opportunity to further distance himself from such realities, and right some of the perceived wrongs from Ukraine last month.
Even at 24, he’s been around the game long enough to know that narrow defeats such as his to McCormack, in which McComb actually acquired a greater number of points overall but lost on two of the three judges’ scorecards, are part and parcel of amateur boxing. The realist in McComb even acknowledges that it’s likely to happen again, but insists that he’s reaching a juncture in his career where such disappointments should become all the more fleeting.
“You have to move on,” he says.
There’s no point in dwelling on it. It’s not the first time it’s happened to me, it won’t be the last time. It would have been even more disappointing if it had happened earlier in the competition and I didn’t qualify for the Worlds – that would have been my year over. Where do you go from there?
“I have to be thankful for getting to the World Championships, and it gives me another opportunity to go and prove everyone wrong, prove wrong everybody else who obviously didn’t favour me in the fight – the judges and stuff – and show the talent that I have.
“Everybody has sort of seen it now after beating the world champion at the Europeans. I’ve beaten the world champion twice now, it’s not just a one-off thing. Everybody knows the talent I have – the coaches, Bernard [Dunne], the backroom staff. They all have faith in my ability to go on and win a World medal. That’s why they’re putting all the work into me, all the effort into me. I’m very thankful for that as well. I believe in myself, too, so it’s not just a one-way thing. I believe in myself all the way, and you’ll see that coming up in the Worlds.”
His gratitude extends to those who have rallied behind him in order for the slick counter-puncher to remain in Irish boxing’s refurbished High Performance Unit.
In large part thanks to Bernard Dunne, he’ll be funded for the rest of 2017 and into 2018, which in turn allows him to prepare in optimal circumstances for the Worlds – his opportunity to secure larger funding for 2018. It’s amateur boxing’s most vicious cycle; if fighters aren’t winning medals for Ireland, they’re not funded, but if they’re not being funded, the likelihood is that they won’t be winning medals for Ireland.
“It’s working out okay,” a relieved McComb says of his current situation. “Again, I need it, and no matter how much I say it, even if it is a struggle, you still find a way. People are here to support you. Bernard is here to support me, everybody is helping me out in their own wee way. But you have to make it work.
“There’s no point in me training in a club in Belfast and not getting half as good sparring as I’m getting down here. You’d be getting good, club-level coaching, but not international coaching. I believe I’m getting top quality coaching in my club as well, but the difference is Zaur [Antia] is the top world class international coach. If I can’t get down here, that’s what I’m missing out. In my eyes that’s 50% of my chance to go and win a World medal taken away from me.
“Medals are the main goal, because with the medals comes the funding. If you don’t get medals, you don’t get funding, so the medals come first – that’s always the main target. If you’re winning medals, you don’t even have to think about money, because it’s guaranteed to be there. I’ve secured myself with a bit of funding for next year, but I’m going to drive on to the Worlds and get a medal which would get me on the Podium funding, the top, world class funding. But again, winning the medal has to come first. For me it’s all about the medal this year, and the funding will come next year.”
It’s hardly surprising that Dunne pulled out so many stops in order to retain McComb’s services. His ability speaks for itself, but a sneak peak at the Irish squad’s training regime in Abbotstown proves McComb a leader amongst both men and women.
The rangy light-welter is paired with new team captain Ward in order to demonstrate Zaur Antia’s intricate drills, with the rest of the team watching the pair execute any request with aplomb before figuring it out for themselves through trial and error.
It’s a role in which he’s found himself almost by accident, following the departures of several high-profile departures from the High Performance team both for the paid game and pastures anew.
“Me, Joe [Ward] and Darren [O'Neill] had probably been here the longest, but Darren’s gone now. So it’s sort of me and Joe now, but Joe is obviously the more experienced boxer – he’s been to the Olympics, everywhere. But this will be my own third World Championships, so yeah, I feel like one of the leaders now.
“There’s been a lot of new people come onto the team this year who aren’t really used to the High Performance Unit, and I feel me, Joe and Darren have had a more senior role to play, introducing them and making them feel welcome and at home here. But also helping them out with all the difficult tasks that Zaur presents. But the team that qualified for the World Championships is just five, and the five qualified know the system now. They know what way Zaur works. So until the Worlds, we can just focus on ourselves again.”
The overhaul has been more comprehensive than merely depending on youngsters to cultivate a core leadership group, however. With Bernard Dunne’s introduction has come a renewed sense of vigour amongst his new charges, statememnts of intent aplenty, and an unwillingness to succumb to the idea that the amateur sport in Ireland is in transition.
To a person, the new crop are confident that they can rediscover the success of old almost immediately, but they’ve also bought into the idea of creating their own legacy which would extend towards Tokyo 2020 and, for some, even beyond.
It’s striking to hear McComb speak so passionately about the future when not three weeks ago he had reached wit’s end with amateur boxing. Much of that must come down to the new High Performance Director, who went out on a limb for him where it might previously have been considered unconventional.
After Rio, everybody sort of thought that Irish boxing was down in the dumps. There was no medals, and you had so many of the big names leaving to go to the pro game: Katie Taylor, Paddy Barnes, Michael Conlan, who dominated international boxing for Ireland for the last decade, or near enough. They’re gone and everybody’s panicking: ‘If we didn’t win medals with them in Rio, how are we going to win medals in the next international tournaments without them?’
“But there’s a great cycle in Irish boxing, and there are great youths coming through. There are two here now, in Kurt Walker and Brendan Irvine – two European bronze medallists! Brendan is 21, Kurt is 22. And they were living in the shadows of Michael and Paddy, but now they’re breaking through, and they’re going to become the big names in Irish boxing.
“From when Bernard’s come in, it’s been obviously a fresh start, but I think it’s been a fresh start that everyone needed. He’s working hard to make this the best High Performance Unit in the world. He makes sure everything runs smoothly, and makes sure we can get the benefit of everything that we have surrounding us here, be it the track or this great boxing gym, or the great support staff. Bernard’s after bringing more people in and they’re brilliant – including a new physio, who’s a great lad.
“It’s great that he’s done that. And there’s more. He has big plans in order too, I believe. We had a small chat about stuff that he has in mind, and I think it’s a great idea, some of the stuff that he has planned for Irish boxing. No hints, as of yet, because none of it is 100% over the line yet, but I believe what he’s working on is going to be massive for Irish boxing in the near future.”
Those aforementioned plans cast the mind back to April, and Dunne’s inauguration as Director in the same gym. Before so much as remarking on his new gig, Dunne told those assembled – including Sport Ireland CEO John Treacy – that one of his first missions would be to ensure that accommodation be built on campus for ‘his’ fighters. It struck as a throwaway ambition at the time, but having overseen the retention of two top Tokyo medal hopes in Joe Ward and Sean McComb when it seemed likely both would move on, it’s perhaps not beyond the realms of possibility.
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