{"id":619265,"date":"2026-04-20T13:50:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T13:50:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/619265\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T13:50:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T13:50:15","slug":"paris-olympians-get-ireland-campaign-under-way-at-world-boxing-cup-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/619265\/","title":{"rendered":"Paris Olympians get Ireland campaign under way at World Boxing Cup \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

AFTER a long build-up, the action is under way at the World Boxing Cup in Brazil.<\/p>\n

This is the first stage of this year\u2019s World Cup series, with two more to follow and ranking points on offer as almost 400 boxers from 50 national federations are registered to take part.<\/p>\n

There are three Irish boxers competing on the first day of the tournament. Jude Gallagher faces Kazakhstan\u2019s 2024 World Youth medallist, Zhanseri Kosherbayev, at approximately 4.45pm. <\/p>\n

Fellow Paris Olympian Jack Marley won\u2019t be far behind, taking on Italy\u2019s Dean Nwokedi Chime three fights later. The Dublin heavyweight is expected in the ring at around 5.30pm.<\/p>\n

\"Ulster<\/a>\"Tonda<\/a><\/p>\n

Holy Trinity\u2019s Jon McConnell is last out on Monday with his 70kg clash against Kazakhstan\u2019s Farukh Tokhtassunov getting under way at around 9.45pm.<\/p>\n

Another couple of Paris Olympians, Daina Moorehouse and Dean Clancy, get their campaign up and running on Tuesday, with Bray flyweight Moorehouse up against New Zealand\u2019s Ashley Belk in the last 32.<\/p>\n

Sligo stylist Clancy is in a stacked 65kg division, with Romania\u2019s Arun Nicu Tuboroiu up first in the last 32.<\/p>\n

There are three Irish boxers between the ropes on Wednesday, with Star light-fly Louis Rooney facing Morocco\u2019s Issam Bensayar for a place in the quarter-finals. Jenny Lehane, who received a bye to the last 16 at 54kg, takes on Venezuela\u2019s Diana Mastre.<\/p>\n

Evelyn Igharo will be the first of the trio to fight on Wednesday, and the Dundalk woman faces a tough task against Mexican Paris Olympian and former pro boxer, Citlallo Vanessa Ortiz.<\/p>\n

World Championship bronze medallist Patsy Joyce benefits from a bye to the last 16 before making his Foz do Igua\u00e7u bow on Thursday, the Mullingar man up against the winner of the preliminary round clash between Poland\u2019s Nikolas Pawlik and Tajikistan\u2019s Meroj Sufijonov.<\/p>\n

And Belfast\u2019s experienced Michaela Walsh hopes to continue her impressive form so far this year when she renews her rivalry with USA\u2019s Alyssa Mendoza in a 57kg last 16 showdown on Thursday.<\/p>\n

The pair last met at the Strandja tournament in Bulgaria in February, with Walsh the 4-1 winner en route to claiming a silver medal.<\/p>\n

And, although he retired from the sport last year, Walsh\u2019s brother Aidan will be involved with Boxing Ireland in future after being confirmed as the high performance unit\u2019s athlete support lead.<\/p>\n

The Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist holds an MSc in athlete wellbeing and performance sport psychology, and is working towards pursuing a PhD exploring emotions within elite boxing gyms.<\/p>\n

In his new role, Walsh will support Ireland\u2019s high performance boxers across all stages of their journey, \u201cwith a particular focus on athlete wellbeing, mentoring, and enhancing the overall performance environment\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m incredibly proud to take on this role with Boxing Ireland,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving come through the system myself, I have an acute understanding of the pressures athletes face. Through my academic studies I\u2019ve developed a real passion for supporting athlete wellbeing and performance. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to contributing to an environment where boxers feel supported, valued, and empowered to perform at their best.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boxing Ireland performance director Jon Mackey added: \u201cAidan brings a rare blend of Olympic-level experience and academic insight into athlete wellbeing and performance. <\/p>\n

\u201cHis understanding of the athlete journey, combined with his ongoing research into the athlete-coach relationship, will be invaluable in strengthening our high performance programme and enhancing our existing athlete support provision.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AFTER a long build-up, the action is under way at the World Boxing Cup in Brazil. This is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":619266,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,300292,222100,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-619265","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-boxing","11":"tag-jack-marley","12":"tag-jude-gallagher","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=619265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619265\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/619266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=619265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=619265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=619265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}