Number 1 seed sends Gardiner out of European Championships
Dean Gardiner bowed out of the European Elite Championships in Samokov, Bulgaria today.
The Tipperary super-heavy was beaten on a unanimous decision (30-25 across the board) by Croatia’s No. 1 seed Filip Hrgovic.
The towering Croat, who earned a Rio 2016 place through the World Series of Boxing earlier this year, dominated all three rounds against Gardiner, who did find the target with a flashing left and a big right in the second round of a heavy-punching contest.
But the Zagreb orthodox, working off left jabs and right hooks, with the occasional body shots thrown in for good measure, dictated the terms and pace for most of the three rounds.
Joe Ward will be in action at approximately 6pm (Irish time) today for a place in the last-16 versus Russian light-heavy Idris Shakhmonov.
European Elite Championships 2015
August 7th
Preliminaries (last 32)
91kg Darren O’Neill (Ireland) beat Tadas Tamasauskos (Lithuania) 2-1
91kg+ Dean Gardiner (Ireland) beat Delalic Abdulnaser (Bosnia & Herzegovina) 3-0
August 8th (last 32)
69kg Adam Nolan (Ireland) beat Onder Sipal (Turkey) 2-0
August 9th (last 32)
81kg Joe Ward (Ireland) v Idris Shakhmonov (Russia)
91+kg Dean Gardiner (Ireland) lost to Filip Hrgovic (Croatia) 0-3
August 10th (last 16)
56kg Michael Conlan (Ireland) v Anthony Brett (France)
64kg Dean Walsh (Ireland) v Florentin Niculescu (Romania)
91kg Darren O’Neill (Ireland) v Evegeny Tischenko (Russia)
August 11th
69kg Adam Nolan (Ireland) v Radzhab Butaev (Russia)
Irish squad
52kg Myles Casey (St Francis)
56kg Michael Conlan (Clonard ABC)
64kg Dean Walsh (St Joesphs/St Ibars)
69kg Adam Nolan (Bray)
81kg Joe Ward (AIBA Pro Boxing)
91kg Darren O’Neill (Paulstown)
91kg+ Dean Gardiner (Clonmel)
Team Manager: Peter O’Donnell
Coaches: Billy Walsh, Zauri Antia and Eddie Bolger
Physiotherapist: Julianne Ryan
Sports Psychologist: Gerry Hussey
Performance Analyst: Alan Swanton
Cuts Man: Dr John Haughey