Nevin in action at World Championships

The new boxing season commences on September 1st but it is business as as usual on the international scene for the busy and very accomplishied fighters at the Cavan amateur boxing club. This month sees John Joe Nevin in action at the World Amateur Championships in Milan, EU professional champion Andrew Murray defend his title on the Bernard Dunne World title bill in Dublin, Joe Nevin, current Ringside world champion selected for the European Cadet championships in Russia and several Cavan boxers on a strong Ulster selection that travels to Canada for two matches. John Joe Nevin began his Worlds campaign when he weighed in on Monday in Milan with the preliminary contests scheduled to begin yesterday (Tuesday). The Irish team arrived in the Italian City on Saturday after an intense training camp in France at Insep, the French National Training facility and at their base in the town of Bugeat.There were 18 nations involved in the camp and preparations went ahead as planned with very positive vibes coming from the Irish squad. The team were involved in a number of test matches last week against the French, German, GB and Cuban squads and the Irish team management were delighted with their boxers' performances This years World Championships is the biggest ever, drawing an entry from over 100 nations and a lot of interest will centre on Monday afternoon's draw. Cavan boxer John Joe Nevin is strongly fancied to get among the medals with his computer-friendly style of boxing and cute counter-punching style ideal for a competition that could see him boxing five or six times in 10 days. The current IABA world rankings based on performances at certain tournaments has Nevin ranked at 10 which seems a bit unfair as the Cavan boxer holds wins over four of the boxers rated above him. However, the British Boxing News rankings, which often overlook Irish fighters' achievements, have Nevin at four in the World and rated one and above European champion Luke Campbell in their World top 10. These rankings are all very well for morale but the real World starts this week and a well prepared, focused and fired up Nevin could well be in the semi-final shake up for medals given a decent draw. There was further good news for the Nevin clan on Saturday with recent Ringside World champion Joe Nevin selected to represent Ireland at the European Cadet championships in Russia at the end of the month. Joe was very impressive at the recent World club event in Kansas City and his three winning contests there will certainly benefit him in the Soviet state. Cavan coach Brian McKeown was very disappointed that he did not have two representitives on the Irish team with three-time Irish champion Hugh Nevin only selected on the standby panel. "With boxing politics it was a bit much to expect two boxers from a small rural club to be selected for such a prestigious event, both were proven competitors and winners and very capable of taking home a medal," said McKeown. It is not often that Andrew Murray finds himself down the local sports pages and while he has been working away solidly over the summer, his career was being carefully planned by manager Brian Peters who has once again landed a good contest for the Ard na Greine man. Andrew is pencilled in to defend his EU title against Pasquale Di Silvio in one of the chief supports to Bernard Dunne who defends his world title against mandatory challenger Poonsawat from Thailand in what could well be boxing's fight of the year. Murray's opponent Di Silvio has only lost one from 11 contests but that was in the only bout he had outside of Italy. While he has only five inside the distance wins and does not appear to be a puncher, these Italian fighters are technically good, frustrating and hard to beat and Andrew will need to impress if he wants to move on to greater things. Tickets and bus times will be available shortly from the usual outlets and supporters are advised to book early for a really special nights boxing that could even surpass the excitement of the last O2 night that saw Dunne take the World title after a titanic struggle and Murray take the European crown against the Spaniard Daniel Rasiila. Also pencilled in for international action in September are Adam Cullen, Ceire Smith, Micheal Hatton and Paddy Nevin, fresh from their exploits at last months Ringside World championships in the USA. The Cavan quartet are part of a strong Ulster selection who travel for two matches in Canada between September 13-20. The team is captained by World Police and Firemans champion David Conlon and also includes top Irish and Four Nations ranked number one Tyrone McCllough from the Illes Golden Gloves club and open class featherweight Conor Fleming from Omagh. Cavan coach Brian McKeown was asked to supply a team after the withdrawal of Australian, English and Scots teams and the unavailabity of Irish and Ulster teams due to other commitments. The hard work in preparing for Kansas City saw the local boxers in good shape to compete while Conlon's World title preparations and success sees him in reasonable condition while McCullough and Fleming's High Performance commitment always leave them prepared for action. Surprise inclusion in the the team is Bunnoe novice Stephen Jackson who gets his first taste of international competition and has been preparing diligentily with the Cavan squad for the event. The tournament highlight is an appearance at The Princess Margaret Cancer function at Toronto Cricket club, a corporate event that draws in excess of 1000 patrons at a dinner show followed by an appearance on the St. Catherine's tournament at the Merritton Community Centre besde Niagara Falls. Once again the Cavan boxers hard work, discipline and success has earned them a place on the international stage and made Cavan familiar to many sports fans abroad.