DEAN CLANCY TOOK gold at the European U22 Championships in Italy this evening, with the Sligo fighter not having to even break a sweat.
Bantamweight Adam Hession also fought for gold, but was stopped in the second round by Armenia’s Artur Bazeyan in the final.
Clancy was due to fight Israel’s Ahmad Shtiwi in Roseto in the light-welterweight decider, but his opponent never showed up for the fight, which had been brought forward following a change to the schedule.
Clancy was in the ring waiting for Shtiwi, who failed to appear. As a result he was handed a walkover and claimed gold in the 63kg class.
Clancy, who boxes out of the Sean McDermott club, won four fights to reach the final, beating Pete Novak of the Czech Republic, Serbia’s Nenad Javanovic, French fighter Lounes Hanraoui and Italian Matteo Ara.
Bantamweight Hession was left disappointed however following a classy display by Bezeyon, the tournament number two seed.
Bezeyon delivered a succession of heavy blows in the second round, with the referee stopping the fight after Hession’s second standing count.
Today’s action brought Ireland’s medal count to three for the Championships.
On Tuesday, Monkstown BC’s Jack Marley won bronze in the heavyweight division, losing his 91kg semi-final in a unanimous decision against Artyan Yardanyar of Georgia.
The42 Rugby Weekly / SoundCloud
Bernard Jackman, Murray Kinsella and Gavan Casey discuss Ireland’s Sevens success, the retirement of Connacht’s Seán O’Brien, the introduction of the 50/22 law at Test level, Noel McNamara’s move to the Sharks, this weekend’s English and French league finals, and the Lions’ opener against the returning Japanese.
He is the missing piece, our form since the grandslam has been good but not great, his drive will push us back to the level required to do well in this world cup.
If I’m not mistaken should Ireland win all their group matches they will arrive at the dreaded quarter finals looking for their 18th consecutive win which would be a world record, overtaking New Zealand and England both of whom arrived at 17 straight wins.. Not to worry lads no pressure at all !!
@Matt Rogers: thanks for that, I’m going to console myself with this point if we lose one of the pool stage games as part of an overall strategy on pressure management ;)
@Matt Rogers: You sure it not 18? The record…
@Jerry Smith: yeah, thought NZ did that (18) against us when Johnny missed that penalty in the Aviva ..?