The amateur year
The month-bymonth guide to the vested code in 2023, a year when plenty of medals were won but the sport’s status as an Olympic event hung by a thread
JANUARY
THERE was a shock for 2022 World and Commonwealth Games Champion Amy Broadhurst in the final of the Irish Elite Championships.
Broadhurst had been boxing at 63kgs and 60kgs, but moved up to 66kgs for the Elites at the National Stadium in Dublin. Broadhurst reached the final, where she was beaten by Granine Walsh.
The story of the championships was the return of Dean Walsh. Six years after his last Elite title, he was crowned lightmiddleweight champion and also named Best Male Boxer. In the last eight he beat Olympic bronze medallist Aidan Walsh.
FEBRUARY
GREAT BRITAIN revealed they would not be sending a team to the Women’s World Championship in a protest at the way IBA are running boxing.
There was a quality clash in the Youth finals at North Solihull Sports Centre.
Denaeo George (City of Leicester Lightning) had suffered a dip after winning the 2019 European Schools Championships and returned to form to reach the final.
There, he faced reigning European Youth champion Owen Ketley and the bout produced three counts.
George dished out two of them and won a 4-1 split.
One of the best finals was at 71kgs, with Repton southpaw Freddie Wilkens edging out Mikey Jennings ( Jennings Gym) on a 3-2 split.
MARCH
NIKHAT ZAREEN became a two-weight world champion in front of her Indian fans.
Zareen added the 52kgs title to the 50kgs crown she won in Istanbul in 2022. She beat top seed Roumaysa Boulam (Algeria) on her way to the final. The host nation picked up the Best Team trophy after claiming four golds. China finished second with three golds, one silver and three bronze medals.
Tributes were paid to Jude Moore (Downend) after the Bristol boxer died at the age of 19.
APRIL
GREAT BRITAIN joined World Boxing, the breakaway federation set up to keep boxing in the Olympic Games.
The International Olympic Committee banned IBA in 2019 because of concerns over governance issues and corruption. World Boxing hope for IOC recognition to take over the running of Olympic boxing.
The NAC Championship reached its conclusion in Newcastle and Jack Dryden and Cameron Vuong were winners for local club Birtley Boys.
Dryden defended the 57kgs title by beating Edward Hardy (Highfields) in one of the best bouts of the day and Vuong was crowned champion at 60kgs after victory over Ropes and Glory southpaw Frank Wood.
Gideon Antwi (Hoddesdon) was finally crowned superheavyweight champion. Beaten in the 2019 and 2022 finals, he outpointed Arlo Stephens (York).
MAY
THE World Championships went ahead in Uzbekistan without the countries who broke away to form World Boxing and the home crowd were on their feet as super-heavyweight Bakhodir Jalolov
[pictured inset] was crowned.
Boxing News described the giant southpaw as “faultless” as two unanimous points wins and two stoppages secured him a second world championship, having previously won in 2019.
Jalolov was one of five gold medallists from the host nation. They also collected two silver and two bronze medals to finish top of the medal table.
In Rotherham, Repton middleweight
Jimmy Sains got his revenge on
Stephen Clarke (Rotunda) in the Three Nations final. Sains, outpointed by Clarke in the NAC final, stopped him in two.
JUNE
THE International Olympic Committee withdrew all recognition of IBA at an Extraordinary Session.
Christophe De Kepper, the IOC Director General, gave assurances boxing would still feature on the programme at Los Angeles 2028 and the growth of World Boxing gave hope for the sport’s Olympic future, with USA Boxing among the national governing bodies joining the organisation set up to rival IBA.
IBA President Umar Kremlev had claimed that “95 per cent” of the requirements laid out by the IOC had been met, but the IOC Executive Board still recommended the IBA should be removed.
JULY
OLYMPIC champion Kellie Harrington qualified for next year’s Paris Games by winning gold at the European Games. The Irishwoman got the semi-final place needed with a points win over Agnes Alexiusson (Sweden) in the last eight at 60kgs.
She followed that with wins over 2016 Olympic champion Estelle Mossely (France) and Natalia Shadrina (Bulgaria).
Irish team-mates Aoife O’rourke (75kgs), Michaela Walsh (57kgs), Dean Clancy (63.5kgs) and Jack Marley (92kgs) also qualified, along with Great Britain boxers Delicious Orie, Charley Davison and Rosie Eccles. Davison became a two-time Olympian, while Eccles reached Paris by outpointing 2022 World Champion Amy Broadhurst at 66kgs. Super-heavyweight Orie, meanwhile, won five bouts in eight days for gold.
AUGUST
YASHUA FLEMMING was named Best Male Boxer as England came home from the European Schools Championship in Slovenia with eight gold medals.
The South Londoner from TM Boxing won five bouts in nine days to take gold at under-48kgs.
England also won three silvers and one bronze. That put England second in the medals table with 12, behind Ukraine (20).
Scotland had two silvers (Zain Iqbal and Michael Kahl) and a bronze (Rubin Clarkson).
Ireland also enjoyed a good championship, with golds for Louise Joyce, Ella Archbold and Cassie Henderson.
SEPTEMBER
ADAM OLAORE, the NAC and Tri Nations champion at 86kgs, qualified for the Olympics up at heavyweight by winning the African qualifying tournament in Senegal.
The 21-year-old from Empire School of Boxing in Blyth was born in Nigeria and was sent to the qualifier after winning the African Championship.
Olaore went all the way to gold in Dakar as well, winning four bouts to qualify for the Paris Olympics.
Great Britain’s females came back from the Silesian Box Cup in Poland with golds for Lucy Kings Wheatley, Sacha Hickey and Amber Moss-birch, while Ivy-jane Smith won gold representing England.
OCTOBER
THE future of boxing at the Olympic Games was left hanging in the balance after the LA28 organising committee proposed that five new sports be added to the programme for Los Angeles 2028.
Boxing had previously been left off the programme for 2028 and the proposed addition of cricket, baseball/softball, flag football, lacrosse and squash would increase the LA28 programme to 33 sports, raising fears there simply will not be enough room for boxing in Los Angeles.
The Philippines revealed they had made a “special request” to the IOC asking for 44-year-old Manny Pacquiao to compete at the Paris Olympics.
NOVEMBER
IRISH legends Kenneth Egan and Jim O’sullivan were nudged out of the record books in Dublin.
They had won 10 Irish titles, a record that stood until Kellie Harrington and
Michaela Walsh both won their 11th titles at the Irish Elite Championships.
Harrington outpointed Zara Breslin (Zamore) in the 60kgs final and the record was equalled a few minutes later.
Walsh handed St Catherines southpaw
Kellie Mccullough two standing counts on her way to a unanimous points decision in the 57kgs final.
Ramtin Musah was named Best Male Boxer at the Tammer Tournament in Finland after striking gold at 80kgs.
DECEMBER
IRISH teenager Siofra Lawless was crowned World Junior Champion in Armenia and was also named Best Female Boxer.
The Wicklow boxer won gold at 63kgs with a unanimous victory over Sachin Shurshti Sathe (India) in the final, a victory that made him the first female World Junior Champion from Ireland for a decade, since Ciara Ginty.
John Donoghue was another gold medallist from Ireland.
Donoghue won five bouts for lightwelterweight gold, including a first-round stoppage of a Russian to secure a medal.
Mary Mcdonagh came home with a bronze after reaching the semi-finals at 70kgs.