Christina Desmond – “I’ll try to be the dark horse for as long as possible”

After the year she’s had, you could forgive Christina Desmond for developing a bit of an ego.

In her first year at Senior level, the Cork middleweight defeated reigning European champ Nouchka Fontijn before heading to Thailand and claiming bronze at the World Universities Championships. Add to this a World Youth silver medal, EU Youth bronze, and a fourth place finish at the Youth Olympics, it all combines to help make Desmond one of the most decorated boxers on the Irish team.

However, the humble Fr Horgan’s boxer enters this week’s European Champiosnhips in Bulgaria with a level head.

While she is still targeting a medal, Desmond is refusing to get too far ahead of herself. There are no ‘gold or nothing’-type declarations and the Rebelette explained to Irish-Boxing.com that “middleweight is a very tough weight, but with a good draw and a bit of luck I’d love to bring home a medal, it would be a perfect finish to my first senior international year.”

“All the girls at middleweight are outstanding athletes. I’d love to be [thought of as] one of the big names going into it, but I’m still a baby so I’ll try to be the dark horse for as long as possible.”

In Chiang Mai last month, Desmond became Ireland’s first ever medalist at the World Universities Championships. While the 20 year old admits that two major tournaments so close in proximity is not ideal, she feels that it has helped her developed a taste for precious metal. Desmond described how “the last few months have been crazy. It was tough coming back to training and trying to motivate myself after the Universities – but it gave me a feel for the podium finish so I’d love to do it again this month!”