Feature: Timsey Tale of the Tape

Tale of the Tape with Timsey: My new column features with opinion’s as hard hitting as my punches on all things Irish boxing. Stay tunned for Timsey’s views every month.

With the box off’s rumoured to be just around the corner and the Irish amateurs winning more medals in the recent European Championship un paid fighters are in the public eye at present.

The amateur scene is going great at the moment. The school boys winning gold and silver medals at the European Juniors last week  just shows how far the sport has come at amateur level.

From the seniors all the way down to the school boys Irish boxing is thriving. The high performance lads have been unreal for the amateurs since they started out with Gary Keegan and Billy Walshe. I think Billy’s the head man now but when you look at some of the names they have worked with and still work with it tells its own story. There’s Keneth Egan, the late Darren Sunderland, young Ward (18) and then Katie Taylor. These fighters are so talented as are a lot of Irish amatuers.

Irish boxing is rated something like third best in the world at amateur level mostly thanks to the likes of the high performance lads and the IBA.

Katie Taylor has also played a major role in gaining Irish boxing warrented international recognition .

For me she doesn’t get the credit she deserves. I mean she was pound for pound the best fighter in the world twice. She is unbelievable, I cant say enough about Katie Tayor people like her keep Irish boxing on the map.

Of course I have to mention the up coming box offs. These fights are going to decide who goes to the world championships a tournament that can lead to Olympic qualification.

The box offs started years ago and in my opinion they should never have been brought in. As Irish Senior Champion you should be entitled to fight at  the Worlds then go to the Olympics.  The rules do mean that stars such as Kenneth Egan, who won silver in Beijing, get another chance at the holy grail that is Olympic qualification.

But for me the champion should go because he is the number one choice.  Still there will be a few good fights on the card so we’ll see what happens.

For me the Ward and Egan rematch is the biggest bout. I think it looks like everything is

pointing at Ward to win again. He’s won the European title, he’s only 18 and he keeps getting stronger. I’ll admit the first fight was a surprise, but Ward is coming along nicely.

Egan has the experience and I do think he is capable of pulling it off on the night so it should be worth a look.

While the amateur scene is booming in certain parts the Pro scene is quiet.

McCloskey is fighting Prescott on the 10th of September for the WBA iterim belt which should be a great fight. Paul lost to Kahn in a bit of a wishy washy way, but I thought he looked good in the fight. This lad Prescott KO’d Kahn. I personally think Paul should win it handy enough but it will be a tough fight.

On that same night Karl Frampton, who for me is one of the two best prospects coming out

of Ireland the other being Stephen Ormond, is fighting against Kiko Martinez for the European belt. Martinez beat Bernard Dunne over here but Carl’s a great fighter and this will be a great fight. A good night of boxing if you ask me!

As I have said Carl and Stephen Ormond or my two top tips to make people sit up and take note over the coming 12 months.

I watched the pair spar last week and I mean just watching these guys go a round was unreal. They are the best prospects coming out of Ireland no doubt.

There’s this other fella my club mate Spike O’Sullivan from Cork, who for me wont lose to

a single middleweight over here.  He is light middleweight and hits like a light heavyweight and I’ve watched him a few times and trained with him, he’s a good prospect too.

 

Now after looking at all things Irish boxing time to tell you a little bit about how things are for me at present.

I might have a title fight coming up soon that will shoot me up in the world rankings but I don’t want to give to much away. I expect to be back in the ring soon enough. Ill be taking part in a football tournament for charity and Ricky Hatton and David Haye are going to have teams in it.  I’m looking forward to that and would encourage you all to buy a ticket its for charity.

Some might think I am shooting my mouth off a bit in this column, but I can back my words up with action.

I hate when people run their mouths at pre bout press conferences. They say it’s to make people interested,  but you shouldn’t have to mouth off to get people interested in a fight. If you’re going to fight, fight, don’t run your  mouth off. I’d get in and fight my best mate if I had to, if he has what I want Id fight for it. A fight is  a fight I don’t need to get into a verbal argument to get me motivated

Transcribed by Dean Byrne