BOXING NOT DUNNE FOR
Dublin ring legend has battle on his hands to get Irish fight game in shape
BERNARD DUNNE has called for a more “hands on” approach to safeguard the future of Irish boxing.
As the Irish Amateur Boxing Association’s high performance director, Dunne has been challenged to deal with the massive problems Covid has thrown up.
All the while, pro boxing in the Republic of Ireland remains a sport stuck in reverse.
Five years on from the Regency Hotel killing – when a boxing weigh-in was ambushed to spark a murderous gangland feud – fight nights have been non-existent.
The influence of alleged crime boss Daniel Kinahan (inset) on MTK, the controversial boxing stable that has snapped up a lot of young Irish talent, has been brought to international attention by a BBC Panorama documentary this week. Dunne had recorded but not watched the show before this interview but believes the new Indeed Career Coach programme that has been established to support Irish amateur athletes can play a part in persuading young boxers to stay the course in the amateur ranks. “We need to be more hands on in both amateur and professional, looking after the rules and regulations that are in place,” said the former WBA super bantamweight world champion.
“We need to make sure our athletes are given the opportunity to succeed and achieve what they want in the right way.
“Something like this Career Coach could be very useful as a resource to put around athletes now and guide them.
“When they see that we are investing in them as people and see that we are investing in them long-term.”
At the elite amateur level, only one Irish boxer has qualified for the Tokyo Olympics so far – team skipper Brendan Irvine.
But while the European qualifiers were postponed again last weekend, Dunne is assured they will occur on time, with a new venue to be announced.
“It feels like nine years,” he said. “We’ve tried to focus on what we can control.
“The athletes have been kept engaged, they’ve been training away. That’s one of the benefits we have as an elite group – we’re able to continue our training, keep moving forward, albeit the Olympic qualifier was cancelled there on Friday.
“But we can’t control that and the boxing taskforce and the IOC have said that they’re going to look at holding it in another venue around the same date so all we can do is be as prepared as we possibly can be.”