Joyce bows out of World Championships
John Joe Joyce bowed out of the AIBA World Championships and Olympic qualifiers at the University of Illinois in Chicago after he lost his preliminary round light welterweight clash to Hungary's Gyula Kate in the early hours of this morning.
The St Michael's Athy man, who was the only Irish boxer in the ring last night, was 9-8 up at the end of the first. But Kate took the next three rounds to advance to the last thirty two on a 32-17 verdict.
Joyce's St Michael's Athy team-mate David Oliver Joyce and Darren Sutherland will be in action today. Joyce faces Brazilian Davi Sousa, while Sutherland meets Roy Albert Cooke of the Dominican Republic.
Ireland were handed a mixed draw at the 2007 AIBA World Championships and Olympic qualifiers which began yesterday.
Super heavyweight Cathal McMonagle was handed a tough task as he will meet European champion Islam Timurziev from Russia, who is ranked 3rd in the World and 2nd in Europe.
Roy Sheahan is also facing a tricky encounter against Jung Joo Kim of Korea, who is ranked 6th in the World. Irish captain Ken Egan meanwhile, will go head-to-head with Julius Jackson from the Virgin Islands on Thursday.
Most boxers reaching the quarter finals in Chicago will qualify for the 2008 Olympics, although heavyweights and super heavyweights must reach the semi finals because of the lower entry level in these weight categories.
The majority of the Irish squad will need to win at least three bouts to make it to the quarter-finals and semi-finals.
However, Ryan Lindberg needs to win two bouts-starting with Fridays clash with Arroyo McJoe from Puerto Rico-to book his ticket for Beijing.
Speaking from Chicago, Gary Keegan, who directs the Irish Amateur Boxing Associations High Performance Unit, said that the experience of competing at World Championships level will stand to Joyce, and admitted that some of the Irish panel are facing tough opening bouts.
He said: "John Joe just celebrated his 20th birthday last week and the experience of competing on the big stage will stand to him in the future. He will obviously be disappointed with this defeat but he can only learn from this.
"It is a bit of a mixed bag of a draw and we are looking at some very tough bouts for some of our squad. However, when you are boxing at this level then you will meet the best in the World and that is what we have been preparing the squad for."
