Clancy is going for Euro gold
SLIGO BOXER IS ON COURSE FOR A EUROPEAN MEDAL:
DEAN Clancy will compete for a gold medal at the European U-22 Boxing Championships in Italy today, Thursday.
The 19-year-old prodigy – a Sligo town native who boxes out of Sean McDermott Boxing Club in Manorhamilton – stormed his way to today’s light welterweight final with a string of impressive performances. Clancy is part of an Irish team which has yielded one other gold medal hopeful – Adam Hession from Galway. Ten boxers were sent to represent the country with Dublin native Jack Marley also claiming a bronze medal this week. Clancy’s journey in the Men’s 63kg category began on June 17 in the round of last 32, when he defeat Petr Novak from the Czech Republic by a score of 5-0.
The IT Sligo sports scholar followed this up with another comfortable 5-0 win over Nenad Javanovic of Serbia.
Clancy had to dig deep for a big win in the quarter-finals when he defeated French opponent Lounes Hamraoui on a split decision of 3-2. He returned to dominant form in Tuesday evening’s semi-final with an impressive, hard-hitting performance which yielded a 5-0 win over Matteo Ara, who was representing the hosts.
Clancy will now face Ahmad Shtiwi, a 22-year-old from Israel who has previous experience as a pro, winning all three of his bouts which were held in 2019 and 2020.
Clancy has had previous experience competing with distinction on an international stage.
The talented boxer represented Ireland at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics – narrowly missing out on a medal. He was part of a Team Ireland section which included Grange swimming sensation Mona McSharry who is heading to Tokyo this summer.
A year prior, Clancy was a silver medalist at the European Junior Boxing Championships, competing at flyweight level. RIGHT: Clancy with his Ireland teammate Jack Marley at the European U-22 Championships in Italy.