THERE

was a lot of bells and whistles for the announcement on Friday of the ‘Clash of the Titans’ card in the National Stadium, which hopes to lift pro boxing out of the gutter – where it has been for a while in this country.

Boxing Ireland promotions and Assassin boxing promotions should be applauded for their ambition and vision in putting together a show headlined by the likeable Eric Donovan (right) meeting Stephen McAfee for the vacant Irish featherweight title.

With a live broadcast on TG 4, it might inject a bit of energy back into the sport.

However, they should choose their words a little more carefully. In the press release earlier this week, they exclaimed that ‘2019 starts off with a bang for Irish pro boxing.’ Given that the sport is still trying to recover from the damage wrought by the Regency Hotel shooting, the phrasing was a tad unfortunate.

And, maybe, Assassin should also consider renaming its promotion company.