Eddieready toignite fireinthe belliesof German boxers
Wexford champion coach Eddie Bolger tells David Looby he’d have
WEXFORD MAN Eddie Bolger takes up the reins as top boxing coach in Germany this week having been denied a promotion by the Irish Amateur Boxing Association (IABA).
Eddie was headhunted by the German Boxing Federation and offered a lucrative two-year deal – with the option of a further two years – in February, but insists he, like Billy Walsh before him, would have stayed within the Irish camp if his hard work had been recognised by an improved financial package and a new role by the IABA.
Having worked as a coach for two decades he said he did not hesitate to make the move of his life, which will see him take charge of the German boxing team for the world championships, which take place in Germany this autumn.
Eddie, 47, grew up in Liam Mellows Park, Wexford, the son of Nancy and Billy Bolger.
He was born into a boxing family. Many of his uncles boxed, and his grandfather Tom O’Connor won a welterweight all-Ireland title with the army.
Eddie recalls cleaning his grandfather’s trophies and his plaque, which hung on the wall of his grandmother’s house.
‘ That is what inspired me on my journey into boxing. I joined Wexford CBS boxing club, which had a fantastic tradition in the town going back to Jimmy Meyler, Brendan Kelly, Mick Cullen, Aidan O’Sullivan and latterly Billy Walsh,’ Eddie said.
Eddie joined the club when he was eight and reached the Irish boxing final when he was 12.
‘It was very tough getting out of Wexford. Liam Walsh guided me through my boxing training. He was very regimental and he didn’t take any crap. He instilled a good culture and was a great man-to-man coach. He’d give you a pat on the back but wouldn’t hesitate to put you in your place.’
Describing boxing as his whole life when he was a teenager, Eddie said it was fantastic to see Billy Walsh reach great heights at national level.
‘It was fantastic to see Billy and Mick Cullen on the back pages of the papers.’ Eddie won the national youth title he was 15. ‘ What that alowed me to do was I could represent Ireland at multi nations tournaments like the Celtic Youths, which was a big deal. Featherweight was my ideal weight. I won that title and had the Irish title for the highest accolade an Irish boxer can achieve.’
When he left secondary school, Eddie studied engineering at Waterford Institute of Technology.
He kept boxing and trained with St Paul’s club in Waterford, while still boxing for the CBS boxing club.
‘I completed college and went on to work for a few Wexford companies including Fergusson Engineering and ABS Pumps. It was the managers at these companies who allowed me time off to go box.’
Eddie said he never made it to world-class level, despite having that ambition.
He was dealt a devastating blow when his coach died in a car accident when he was 24. ‘He was like a father figure to me. Another club boxer Louis Furlong helped to fill the void and eventually I switched from boxing to coaching.’
This was around the time Eddie and his partner Julie O’Leary from Wexford town had a baby daughter, Yasmine.
‘ The club was still going well as we always had a good pool of talent but Louis had moved away and it needed someone to take over. My heart was in the club and still is to this day, so I was happy to take over the coaching.’
Eddie worked with the schoolboys and admits it was a big role to take on. ‘Coaching 12- and 13-year-olds is a huge role. You are coaching them, you are their psychologist, their physio. You give them advice and help them through things.’
Around this time Billy Walsh’s old coach Eddie Byrne returned from England to Wexford and the two men coached rising stars like brothers Gary and Eddie Byrne, Seamus King and Anthony Furlong.
Following the phenomenal success of the Byrne brothers, Eddie was invited to join Irish boxing’s elite high performance team in 2008. ‘ The Byrne brothers had consistently won national youth titles for years up until 2008 and the club got stronger. When I got into the High Performance unit I was able to concentrate on the boxing. A lot of other countries had these units in place but it was definitely groundbreaking what we were doing.’
Eddie worked in a voluntary capacity and during this time he identified the High Performance Unit as a place where he could make a career for himself.
‘I treated it like a college course and said if I didn’t get a job out of it after four years I’d pack it in. It almost took the four years for me to get offered the role. It was fantastic to be afforded the chance to upskill ourselves to work with professionals and to be in a team fighting at major tournaments.’
Eddie was invited by Walsh to train boxers for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, having been named the high performance coach meaning he would work closely with Zaur Antia and Walsh and who headed up the unit.
HE IMMEDIATLEY made an impact on rising star Joe Ward. ‘As that relationship grew, our bond grew. Joe decided to come down to Wexford to train with me and some of the boxers at the CBS. He’d arrive down on a bus every opportunity he would get. He still has a room at the house and he developed a great bond with the Byrne brothers and Anthony.’
Ward won a youth world title when he was 16. ‘ He came down to Wexford after that for a chat and he wanted to know what
I PROBABLY WOULD NOT HAVE GONE TO GERMANY IF THERE’D BEEN SOME REWARD