MEDAL ALERT – Jon McConnell Wins European Championship Medal
Jon McConnell stepped onto the European Championship podium on Monday.
The Holy Trinity boxer won continental bronze at the very least with an impressive win in Sofia.
McConnell came out the right side of a tight and testy quarter-final defeating Gabriele Guidi Rontani of Italy, the reigning Mediterranean Games champion and a World Boxing Cup China bronze medalist at 75kg. Both boxers had points deducted in the 3rd round of a fight McConnell won on a 3-2 card. Judges scored the bout 28:27; 27:28; 27:28: 28:27; 27:28. The reigning Commonwealth Games champion boxes his semi-final on Wednesday, against Azerbaijan’s Nabi Isgandarov, a World Boxing Cup Brazil bronze medalist.
Speaking to Boxing Ireland’s Grainne Walsh at ringside, he said “I’m over the moon. It was some fight, it was a close fight. He just wouldn’t stop. It was dirty enough with the head and stuff but I just kept my composure in that last round. I got dragged into a fight a bit in that last 30 seconds but I knew I had won. Then a point off, I didn’t know what way it would go and then he got a point off, and rightly so for the head, but in the semi-final. Let’s go!”
He added: “I just want to say that Jude’s performance today I was looking at it in a coffee shop, I had it on the phone. It just gave me a lift. The way he came out in that second round, I just looked at it and just went I’m going to win today. Fair play to my team-mates as well, shouting in the stands for me. I’m just glad to get the win for the team.
And that powerhouse performance by Jude Gallagher sees him through to the European Elite Championship quarter-finals. The Two Castles boxer contested his lightweight Last 16 contest against European medalist, France’s Lounes Hamraoi, and was down on four cards in the first round. The Tyrone man rallied in the second and third, forcing standing counts, and won by RSC in the 3rd. He boxes for a medal in Wednesday’s Afternoon Session against Cuban-born Spanish boxer, Ewart AndrĂ©s MarĂn Hernández
Speaking after his bout he said “Delighted. Against a very, very good opponent. I went out and tried to box him in the first round. He was a counter-punching southpaw and he sort of edged me in the first I was a wee bit slow. Had to change the tactics in the second round. Brought the fight to him, hurt him early with a body shot. A count in the second, and finished in the third. Delighted.”
He added “I have that in my arsenal. I can dig deep, I can put the hands up and curl the toes up, go and grab it with both hands if I have to. I sort of did therein the second. I sort of hurt him in the body, kept the foot on the gas and kept it out of the judges hands.’
Michaela Walsh also won through to the medal stages of the European Elite Championships. The double Olympian and 2026 Commonwealth Games silver medalist was dominant throughout her 57kg Last 16 contest against Montengro’s Bojana Gojkovic. Her 5-0 win was scored 27:30; 27:30; 27:30; 27:30; 27:30. The most decorated domestic Irish boxer takes on Bulgarian, Stanimira Petrova, in the fight for a medal in Wednesday’s evening session. Petrova is a triple Olympian (Rio, Tokyo, Paris), and a 2014 World Champion. Walsh and Petrova have met twice before, at the 2019 European Games in Minsk, and at a Tokyo qualifier in 2021. They have one win apiece.
Speaking fresh out of the ring, she says “I feel amazing. Obviously, boxing on the day you don’t know how you’re going to perform. You can prepare as best as you can and have the right tactics but ultimately, it’s how you show up on the day. I’m just really thankful that I showed up today and got the performance.’
Walsh has had a seven day wait for her opening bout. She says “It is challenging. Lucky for me, I’ve experienced this before. It happened to me in the Olympic Games. It happened just recently at the Commonwealth Games. I think I was 15 days without a spar in the Commonwealth Games. I’m used to it…Its just trying to conserve energy, not doing too much”.
Not to be for Kellie McLoughlin in her European Elite Championship 60kg Last 16 contest. She put in a brave performance against multiple European U22/U23 medalist, France’s Sthélyne Grosy. The 4-1 decision went to France, on a scoreline of 30:27; 27:30; 30:27; 30:27; 30:27.
Team Ireland’s Gavin Rafferty exits, despite a game, brave performance in his 75kg European Elite Championship Last 16 contest. He boxed Mateusz Urban of Poland, a World Boxing Cup China bronze medalist. Urban was deducted a point in the last round, and the final scores were: 27:29; 27:29; 27:29; 27:29; 27:29
