22 Irish fighters in latest Four Nations Rankings

Ireland have twenty-two amateur fighters ranked in the latest edition of the Boxing News’ Four Nations Ratings.

The Top Tens, as of October 24th, feature fighters from Ireland, England, Scotland, and Wales.

English fighters top the ladder in nine of the ten weights, with Joe Ward‘s top spot at light heavyweight being the only exception.

The European gold and World silver medalist tops a ladder which also features Tony Browne (St Michael’s Inchicore) at #9.

At light flyweight, Ulster fighters Blaine Dobbins (St Joseph’s) and Darryl Moran (Illies) are placed at #7 and #9 respectively.

Rio Olympian Brendan Irvine (St Paul’s) comes in at #2 at flyweight behind England’s Niall Farrell – who formerly represented the St Anne’s club in Mayo. Cork’s Tommy McCarthy (Mayfield) is #10.

At bantamweight, European bronze medalist Kurt Walker (Canal) is in at #3. The weight with the joint-highest representation from Ireland, St Francis duo Myles and Tommy Casey are also featured at #9 and #10.

Ireland continue to be well placed at lightweight, with Elite Senior champ Pat Mongan (Olympic) in second place, with runner-up George Bates (St Mary’s) in third.

Holy Trinity’s Sean McComb is #2 at light welterweight. Elite Senior runner-up Wayne Kelly (Ballynacargy) is #5.

Ireland also has three ranked at welterweight, with Elite champion Dean Walsh (St Ibar’s/St Joseph’s) at #2, Rio Olympian Steven Donnelly (All Saints) at #3, and Galway teenager Kieran Molloy (Oughterard) at #8.

Middleweight Elite Senior champion Emmet Brennan (Glasnevin) is in at #9.

Another class with three Irish is heavyweight. London Olympian Darren O’Neill (Paulstown) takes third spot here, while Ken Okungbowa (Athlone) is #4 and Kirill Afanasev (Smithfield) is #8.

Finally, at super heavyweight, Dean Gardiner (Clonmel) is #3, while Elite Senior champ Martin Keenan (Rathkeale) is #9.

Notable Irish absences from the list include middleweight Michael Nevin (Portlaoise) who recently had a win in an Elite International away to Poland and who topped the podium at the Eindhoven Box Cup, and his fellow gold medalist here James McGivern (St James’s) at lightweight.

The rankings in full can be found in this week’s edition of the Boxing News.