Taylor and Conlan still rule the World

Katie Taylor and Michael Conlan remain at No. 1 in the World in the updated AIBA rankings in their respective lightweight and bantamweight classes.

Michael O’Reilly has improved one place to No. 2 in the middleweight class and Joe Wardremains at No. 3 at light-heavy.

All four Irish boxers are No. 1 in Europe.

Ireland, courtesy of Taylor and Conlan, occupies 10% of the No. 1 positions in the 20 male and female places in the world, and, courtesy of Taylor, Conlan, O’Reilly and Ward, 20% of the No. 1 positions in Europe.

Taylor has held the No.1 position for an unprecedented ten consecutive years and Conlan moved to No.1 after becoming the first Irish male boxer to win AIBA World Elite gold in Qatar last November.

Brendan Irvine is at No. 6 in the light-fly rankings, although the Irish champion has moved up a notch to fly.

Twelve Irish boxers are included in the current AIBA Open Boxing (AOB) World rankings. While Joe Ward is signed with AIBA Pro Boxing, he has picked up his rankings points through AOB.

APB boxers can compete in AOB as long as the tournament is part of an Olympic qualification process.

Conlan, Ward, Paddy Barnes and Steven Donnelly have qualified for Rio 2016. Barnes and Donnelly finished in No. 1 and No 4 positions in the World Series of Boxing light-fly and welter weights last season.

AIBA World Ranked Irish Boxers

49kg: Brendan Irvine (St Pauls) No. 6
51kg: Ceire Smith (Cavan) No. 22
56kg: Michael Conlan (Clonard) No. 1
60kg: Katie Taylor (Bray ) No. 1
60kg: Sean McComb (Holy Trinity) No. 17
64kg: Dean Walsh (St Josephs/St Ibars) No. 22
69kg: Clare Grace (Callan) No. 8
69kg: Adam Nolan (Bray) No. 34
75kg: Michael O’Reilly (Portlaoise) No. 2
81kg: Joe Ward (AIBA Pro Boxing) No.3
91kg: Darren O’Neill (Paulstown) No. 37
91+kg: Dean Gardiner (Clonmel) No. 40