Bernard Dunne’s focus is on Irish performances not American scoring
There was some dismay expressed at the scoring as Ireland fell to a second successive defeat to America in Massachusetts on Thursday night.
An 8-4 Tuesday reverse was followed up by a 7-3 defeat that left some questioning the scoring.
The night started with five straight split decision losses, two of which were baffling as Kelly Harrington and Gráinne Walsh both looked to have done more than enough to defeat strong opposition.
Light welter Wayne Kelly was particularly bemused by his split loss to Charlie Sheehy while newcomer Caoimhin Ferguson gave as good as he got against Panamerican silver medalist Tiger Johnson – as did George Bates versus U.S. wonderkid Marc Castro.
However, one of the men whose opinion matters most Bernard Dunne didn’t seem too upset to be losing out to the Billy Walsh managed American team.
The former World champion claims the young squad were not brought Stateside to register wins, stressing the trip is about learning. With no medals on the line ‘The Dublin Destroyer’ claims the coaching set up that includes head coach Zaur Antia and coaches Philip Keogh, Martin Donovan and Paul Donovan, are more interested in performances than final score.
In that regard the IABA High-Performance Director claims he is more than happy with proceedings for far.
“We’re very much focused on performances. There are no gold medals won at competitions like this. It’s all about building toward the majors, Europeans, Worlds and Olympic Games
“The squad are focused on trying to implement things. They’re trying to improve all the time, and, I have to say, throughout this whole journey in the States, they have been absolutely superb.”
The tour will conclude next Wednesday [March 21st] with a fight night in Manchester, New Hampshire.
60kg: Amelia Moore (Middletown, Connecticut) beat Kelly Harrington (St Mary’s) 2-1
69kg: Oshae Jones (Toledo, Ohio) beat Gráinne Walsh (Sparticus) 2-1
60kg: Marc Castro (Fresno, California) beat George Bates (St Mary’s) 2-1
64kg: Charlie Sheehy (Brisbane, California) beat Wayne Kelly (Portlaoise) 2-1
64kg: Tiger Johnson (Cleveland, Ohio) beat Caoimhin Ferguson (Clonard) 2-1
69kg: Paddy Donovan (OLOL) beat Quinton Randall (Katy, Texas) 3-0
75kg: Troy Isley (Alexandria, Virginia) beat Gerard French (Clonard) 3-0
75kg: Brett McGinty (Oakleaf) beat Nikita Ababiy (Brooklyn, New York) 2-1
81kg: Khalil Coe (Jersey City, New Jersey) beat Caoimhin Hynes (Holy Trinity) 3-0
91kg: Kirill Afanasev (Smithfield) beat Adrian Tillman (Colorado Springs, Colorado) 3-0
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