HOLY Trinity coach Michael Hawkins has slammed the decision to leave Sean McComb out of the Irish squad for a major Olympic qualifying tournament this summer, claiming his fighter has been treated "extremely unfairly".
David Oliver Joyce was named as the lightweight pick for June's inaugural European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan, despite McComb picking up the Irish senior title last month - his second in three years.
Olympic hopefuls must qualify for September's World Championships either through the European Games, or the European Championships in August - so both are essentially 'qualifiers for a qualifier' for Rio 2016.
What has angered Hawkins most is the fact that while Joyce - who controversially defeated McComb in the 2014 Irish senior final - opted to go down the AIBA Pro Boxing route for Olympic qualification, his selection for the European Games acts as something of a safety net should his APB bid fall flat.
"If he doesn't qualify through APB, and there's a chance he won't, what does Sean get?" asked Hawkins.
"Joyce has already been given his chance in terms of qualifying - how many chances do they give him to qualify? Then, if he doesn't qualify, there's a better boxer out there who may have qualified."
The other notable absentee from the Irish squad bound for Baku is Ballymena's Steven Donnelly. He has been overlooked in favour of the man he comprehensively defeated in the 2014 Irish senior final, Bray's Adam Nolan.
Unlike McComb, though, Donnelly still has the World Series of Boxing as a potential route for Olympic qualification, and he turns out for the Poland Hussars team against USA Knockouts in Miami on Friday night.
"Of all the selections, Sean stands out," said Hawkins. "He has been treated extremely unfairly.
"If you're picking the best team, you pick Sean McComb. What has David Oliver Joyce won that makes him better than Sean? Sean has trained long and hard to get to where he is and he doesn't deserve to be overlooked.
"If David Oliver qualifies, and Sean goes to the Worlds and qualifies, what happens then? It's not fair and it's not right. Put them in the ring - we'll fight David Oliver Joyce any time, and then we'll know."
Irish head coach Billy Walsh (right) defended his decision to include Joyce, but said the squad could - and probably would - change if fighters involved in APB and WSB have already secured their qualification by June.
Along with McComb, the likes of Brendan Irvine and Kurt Walker are on the reserve list, and Walsh has urged all those who are in the shake-up for Rio to keep their focus ahead of a long qualification process that could rumble on until May next year.
"David [Oliver Joyce] is two contests away from qualification, Joe Ward is a couple of fights away from qualification, Paddy Barnes and Michael Conlan are three or four contests away from qualification. If that happens, it's a different team," explained Walsh.
"For those that don't qualify outright [through APB or WSB], next year is probably the best opportunity, because at the World
Championships it's a gold or silver medal that will qualify you in most weight divisions.
"We've only ever had one silver medal at the World Championships [Jason Quigley in 2013] so, looking at the history of it, it's very difficult to qualify that way.
"The following year, we have a European qualifier in February and then another world qualifier in May, so this is a long process. For any boxer that's in the melting pot, they shouldn't get disillusioned because it's a year-and-a-half qualification.
"People have to keep the head down, keep the faith and keep working."
MEANWHILE, McComb is on an Irish team that travels to Bulgaria this weekend to prepare for the Strandja memorial tournament in Sofia.
The Holy Trinity star is joined by fellow Ulster fighters Brendan Irvine, Kurt Walker, Ceire Smith and Michaela Walsh. The action gets under way on Tuesday, February 24.
Irvine, Walker and Derry's Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Connor Coyle will also travel to Finland for the Gee Bee multi-nations tournament in Helsinki from March 13-15.