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Martin Jim Mongan targeting European medal following another Irish title win

In just over a year, Martin Jim Mongan has romped to four Irish titles.

The Ennis heavyweight phenom continued his domination on Sunday, claiming his third Irish under 18 title and his sixth in total.

A year older, stronger, and wiser since bursting onto the scene with two under 18 title wins last year, Mongan gave a controlled performance to unanimously outpoint Darndale’s Thomas Gavin from the outside at the National Stadium.

Following the win, Mongan paid tribute to his opponent and told Irish-Boxing.com that “it was a very, very tough fight. Thank God everything worked out.”

“The lad is a very, very strong hitter and I’ve the utmost respect for him.”

“We boxed there two years ago and believe me it was a flip of a coin. We’ve been friends ever since and I’ve no doubt he’ll be back bigger and better next year.”

“Six in a row now, thank God, I kept it going.”

Mongan has been on top for a while now, but he remains hungry and only plans to improve.

The Clare teen outlined how “there were three competitions last year and I won every one of them comfortable enough.”

“Me and my cousin Martin [John Mongan, U18 +91kg champion] have been training together since we were Boy 1s and we’ve been winning titles all this year and last year.”

“I trained very, very hard for the last three months for this and had a lot of good preparation.”

“I’m five kilos underweight and I’m only getting bigger.”

Next up, should he be selected, are the European Youths in Turkey this September, and Mongan has medals on the mind.

He stated that “with the help of God, and if everything goes to plan, I’m 100% planning to medal out there.”

Joe O’Neill and Gavan Casey speak to Jason Quigley on Episode 5 of The Irish Boxing Show:

Joe O'Neill

Reporting on Irish boxing the past five years. Work has appeared on irish-boxing.com, Boxing News, the42.ie, and local and national media. Provide live ringside updates, occasional interviews, and special features on the future of Irish boxing. email: joneill6@tcd.ie

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