Three Irish fighters in European Action Thursday

Three team Ireland fighters are in European action today.

Eugene McKeever and Jack Marley make their senior European debuts in Armenia, while Luke Maguire fights for a second time in this year’s continental installment.

McKeever gets things underway as he takes on #2 seed Vakid Abbasov of Serbia in a 67kg round of 16 encounter -bout 8 of Ring B’s afternoon session.

Luke Maguire, the 5-0 winner over Poland’s Daniel Wieslaw Piotrowski in his round of 32 bout, meets No. 3 seed, Georgia’s Eskerkhan Madiev at the same stage in the first bout of the evening session in Ring B.

While heavyweight, Jack Marley begins his campaign against Vagkan Nanitzanian of Greece in the same ring four bouts later.

Ireland had three wins from four fights on Wednesday, with Sean Mari, Gabriel Dossen and JP Hale all reaching their respective quarter-finals.

Flyweight Mari opened proceedings defeatubgSerbia’s Omer Ametovic in a high octane bout – the Dublin boxer came away the 4-1 split decision winner. The judges scored the bout 27:30, 27:30, 27:30, 27:30, 29:28.

Dossen registered his second win of the tournament when he beat Mofid Rami Kiwan of Bulgaria. The Galway middleweight was assured and dominant throughout the bout, and secured is Quarter Final berth by way of a 5-0 win. Judges scored the bout 30:27, 30:27, 30:27, 29:28, 29:28.

Team Captain, featherweight Adam Hession, seeded No. 4 for the tournament, took on Belgium’s Vasile Usturoi in the first bout of the session and unfortunately didn’t progress. Hession had to deal with a cut over his eye in a keenly contested and tense clash. Ultimately, the judges scored in favour of the Belgian boxer, on a 4-1 split: 30:27, 29:28, 30:27, 30:27, 27:30.

The last Team Ireland boxer in action on Day Three was lightweight JP Hale. He boxed No. 3 seed, Finland’s Arslan Khataev. JP claimed a 3-2 win. The judges scores: 30:27, 28:29, 27:30, 27:30, 29:28 in favour of the boxer in blue.

Team Ireland:

48kg Ricky Nesbitt, Holy Family, Drogheda

51kg Sean Mari, Monkstown BC, Dublin

54kg Dylan Eagleson, St. Paul’s, Belfast

57kg Adam Hession, Monivea BC, Galway

60kg JP Hale, Star ABC, Belfast.

63.5kg Brandon McCarthy, St. Michael’s, Athy.

67kg Eugene McKeever, Holy Family, Drogheda

71kg Luke Maguire, Esker BC, Dublin

75kg Gabriel Dossen, Olympic, Galway.

92kg Jack Marley, Monkstown BC, Dublin

Coaches:
Zauri Antia

Dmitri Dmitruk

Damian Kennedy