On This Day: August 15th
2015: Joe Ward and Mick Conlan both claimed gold at the European Championships on a brilliant day in Samokov. Conlan, despite a lack of preparation and having to readjust to the three-round format, strolled to the final with unanimous decision wins over Frenchman Anthony Bret, Dane Fredrik Jensen, and Italian Francesco Maietta. In the final the Belfast bantamweight came up against England’s Qais Ashfaq in a repeat of their 2014 Commonwealth Games final, with Conlan again coming out victorious.
Ward, also readjusting from the longer-format APB, was frighteningly dominant. The Moate light heavyweight bullied Russian Idris Shakhmanov in his opening bout before wins over Georgia’s Nikoloz Sekhniashvili, Belarussian Mikhail Dauhaliavets, and Croatian Hrvoje Sep to make the final. Here he comfortably defeated Holland’s Peter Mullenberg.
1989: Eamonn Magee defeated home fighter Victor Perez 29:17 to guarantee silver at the World Junior (now Youth) Championships in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. The Belfast light welter had stopped Bulgarian Ivan Ivanov and outpointed Cuban Jose Sanchez (26:13) to reach the last four. In the final Magee was beaten 17:10 by East German Enrico Berger.
1919: Frank Dwyer outpointed Chris Dowling over 20 rounds to win the Irish lightweight title at the Handy Hall in Castlerea, Roscommon.
