Aoife O’Rourke stands nine minutes from a European hat-trick. The Rosscommon middleweight is through to the European final after overcoming Isildar Busra in the semi-final. O’Rourke hit the high gears in the final round to advance. The 26-year-old from Castlerea was the European middleweight champ in 2019 and 2022 and will get the opportunity for a third successive crown at the weekend. Olympic-qualified O’Rourke secured a split decision win over Busra in Belgrade. The bout was a repeat of the 2022 European quarter-final, which O’Rourke also won. O’Rourke has been on a hot steak of victories ..read more

As Kellie Harrington stood in the centre of the Aleksandar Nikolić Hall’s ring, she bore the look of a woman who knew what was coming. Sure enough, the announcer cleared his throat and announced the winner: ‘The boxer in the blue corner’. The red-vested Harrington, the reigning Olympic and European lightweight champ, was beaten by Natalia Shadrina. It was a first defeat in over three years for Harrington; a first defeat, in fact, since losing to Nune Asatryan in Sofia in February 2021. Defeat brings an end to a 32-bout winning streak for Harrington. On home canvas, Serbian Shadrina advanced to ..read more

Niamh Fay must settle for European bronze after the Ballyboughal bantam suffered defeat to World silver medallist Lacramioara Perijoc. In their semi-final in Serbia, Perijoc secured her place in the final after taking a unanimous decision against Fay. Perijoc arrived in Serbia with real pedigree having taken silver medals from the 2022 World Championships and the 2023 European Games. The rugged Romanian had beaten Fay on her way to World silver in Istanbul two years ago. Fay opened up her European bid with a fine UD win over Karina Tazabekova from Russia. The withdrawal of Stanmira Petrova, th ..read more

St Anne’s southpaw Shannon Sweeney will go for gold at the European Championships in Serbia. The Irish light-fly overcame Anush Grigoryan in a 50kgs semi-final on Thursday to seal her spot in the final. Sweeney, who disposed of the gold medal favourite Laura Fuertes Fernandez to earn a place on the podium, claimed a unanimous decision. The Westport woman advances to the final after scorecards of 30-27 x2 and 29-28 x3 landed in her favour. Not only does Sweeney get a chance to fight for gold, but her prize money has rocketed up to a guaranteed $10,000 as a result of this win. Sweeney was up on ..read more

Tyrone McKenna’s retirement looks set to be short-lived. If rumour and report are to be believed ‘The Mighty Celt’ will take his gloves off the hook and trade leather in Belfast on August 3. It’s understood a fight between the ever-entertaining southpaw and former Golden Contract foe Mohamed Mimoune is in the works. It’s been suggested the rematch will play a prominent role on an SSE Arena-hosted Conlan Boxing card. McKenna and the French fighter have previous, they met in the York Hall in the Golden Contract semi-finals. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Irish-Boxing.com (@irishb ..read more

Sean McComb remains hopeful he can get another shot at world level after ‘having a life-changing opportunity ripped’ away from him in New York on Saturday. The Belfast boxer put in one of the best away performances of any Irish fighter when he frustrated and tamed American Arnold Barboza Jr across 10 rounds on the massive Haney-Garcia fight night. However, a much-maligned scorecard denied him what the vast majority believe would have proved a well-deserved victory. McComb, who was content with his performance but upset with the scoring, lamented the fact he had been robbed of the rewards that ..read more

Four Irish fighters shoot for silver in Belgrade today. The four Team Ireland medal winners will look to trade in their bronze for silver [at least] with Shannon Sweeney, Kellie Harrington, Aoife O’Rourke and Niamh Fay all in semi-final action. Two-time European Championship bronze medal winner, Sweeney will aim to reach her first continental final by beating Anush Grigoryan in a 50kg semi. The Mayo fighter takes on the Armenian in Bout 2 of Ring A’s Afternoon Session. Standing between Olympic champion Harrington and a second final appearance is Serbia’s Natalia Shadrina. They meet in a lightw ..read more

The IABA have banned the wearing of International vests in domestic competitions. The rule will come into effect for the upcoming National Cadet Championships, which will be contested at the National Stadium this weekend. Anyone found not to be complying with the law will not be allowed enter the ring and will hand their opponent a walkover. In a statement, the IABA revealed their has been ‘widespread criticism’ of wearing international vests at the domestic level and said it was seen as both an intimidation tactic and an attempt to sway judges. Indeed, the IABA went as far as to label the pra ..read more

Ireland will have to settle for four European Championship medals after quarter-final disappointment for both of Team Ireland’s Day 8 participants. Adam Hession and Dean Clancy both bow out at the medal stage after defeats in tough to score fights. View this post on Instagram A post shared by IABA (@boxingireland) Glaway’s Hession was unable to add Senior silverware to his underage European collection as he suffered at the gloved hands of Eduard Savvin. The Russian, who knocked him out of the 2021 World Championships, repeated the feat at continental level, scoring a decision win. Featherw ..read more

Graham McCormack has taken the latest postponment of his BBBofC super middleweight title fight on the chin as well as he’s taken any punch. The Limerick southpaw was dealt what would appear to be an extremely frustrating blow as his proposed York Hall clash with Kieran Gethins was delayed for a third time. However, ‘G Train’ has managed to remain upbeat, pointing out he is still stopping in title town, just at a later date than expected. The fight has been pushed back two weeks because his Welsh foe’s medical wasn’t processed in time. There was talk it might be added to the Boxxer-promoted Sky ..read more