THE REBEL COUNTRY TO CELEBRATE 100 YEARS OF AMATEUR BOXING
ONE hundred years of Cork amateur boxing will be publicly lauded amidst a carnival atmosphere at Bishop Lucey Park this Saturday.
The sporting and musical extravaganza is being promoted by the Cork Ex Boxers Association (CEBA) in conjunction with the Cork County Boxing Board.
Leeside had produced many of Ireland’s finest exponents of the noble art over the last ten decades.Nine local heroes have answered an opening bell at the Olympics since Ireland first competed at the 1924 Games in Paris as an independent nation.
The focal point of Saturday’s celebrations will see the Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr. Mary Shields, and former Irish Olympian and current Irish head coach Billy Walsh unveil a plaque inscribed with the names of Cork’s boxing Olympians.
Cork’s Mossy Doyle, Willie “Boy” Murphy, PJ Kelleher, James Murphy, Paddy Kenny, Kieran Joyce, Paul Buttimer, Michael Roche and Christina Desmond have proudly represented Ireland and Cork at Olympiads.
In the 1924 Games, Doyle was beaten by Jackie Fields of the USA, real name Jacob Finkelstein, after a close bout in the French capital. Fields went on to win gold.
Fields, who was advised by his coach to change his name because his real name didn’t sound tough enough for a boxer, has been confirmed as the youngest Olympic champion of all time.
Fields was 16 years, five months and 11 days old when he finished on top of podium in Paris 90 years ago.
Olympic champion Michael Carruth, a man who is also on familiar terms with the view from the top of a winners podium at an Olympiad, will also be on Leeside on Saturday to lead the great and the good on an iconic day for the sport on Leeside.
Read more in Thursday’s edition of the Cork Evening Echo.