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Walsh hails McComb after win

Seán McComb (right) is through to the last 16 in Baku
Seán McComb (right) is through to the last 16 in Baku Seán McComb (right) is through to the last 16 in Baku

SEÁN McCOMB advanced to the last 16 of the European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan on a unanimous decision yesterday, with head coach Billy Walsh hailing his performance.

The remaining 11 Irish boxers will be in action today, tomorrow and Sunday, with Olympic champion Katie Taylor slated to meet Bulgaria’s Denista Eliseeeva for an eighth time at approximately 2.30pm (Irish time) on Sunday.

Taylor has beaten Eliseeva on six occasions, amassing 69 points and conceding 20 under the old computer scoring system. She has also beaten the Bulgarian under AIBA 10-point must scoring.

But Eliseeva was controversially awarded a 5-1 decision over Taylor at the Strandja Memorial in Bulgaria in 2011, the last time that Bray lightweight was beaten.

Meanwhile, McComb beat Ukrainian National Cup silver medallist Tymur Beliak (29-28-30-27,29-28) yesterday after splitting the judges in his favour in the second and third rounds and taking the second unanimously.

The Irish Elite champion will now meet Italy’s World Series of Boxing fighter Donato Cosenza tomorrow for a place in the quarter-finals.

Cosensza was TKO’d in the second by Ireland’s David Oliver Joyce in the Chemistry Cup in Germany last year and also lost to Joyce in an Olympic Test Event in London in 2011.

Irish head coach Billy Walsh expressed surprise that McComb didn’t win the first round against Beliak on all three judges’ cards yesterday.

“We thought that Sean won the first round unanimously, His opponent didn’t touch him. It was a superb performance, probably our best of the tournament so far,” he said.

All of the remaining Irish boxing squad – courtesy of wins and byes – are now through to the last 16.

Ireland's lightest male and female boxers – light-fly Brendan Irvine and fly Ceire Smith - will be in action today.

Irvine, who boxes out of the St Paul’s BC in Antrim, meets Bulgaria’s Tinko Banabakov at approximately 10.30am this morning one win away from the last-eight.

Irvine and Banabakov met in the Gee Bee final in Helsinki earlier this year, with Irvine winning gold on a split decision.

Meanwhile, Smith will be dreaming of a medal showdown with Nicola Adams later in the competition when she starts against Camilla Johansen of Norway.

Adams could get the chance to gain revenge for her only loss in the last three years when she starts her campaign. She knows if she comes through her opening contest against Katalin Ancsin of Hungary she is likely to face experienced Bulgarian Stoyka Petrova in the quarter-finals.

Adams suffered her only defeat since her London 2012 triumph to Petrova at the European Championships in Bucharest last June.

Nevertheless the 32-year-old is intent on regaining her dominance of the women's flyweight division in Baku and she already has one eye on defending her Olympic title in Rio next year.

Adams said: "Boxing in the first European Games is another historic moment and I've got all the motivation to go on and hopefully become our first double Olympic boxing champion.

“I’ve still got so much to achieve in my career - I still haven’t won a world title and my desire to win another Olympic title is no less than it was to win my first, so there is so much to do before I stop boxing.”

The top three ranked male boxers in Baku qualify for the AIBA World Elite Men’s Championships in Qatar in October,

The World Championships are a qualifier for the Rio Olympics. The finalists (top two) in each of the 10 weight classes in Baku qualify for Qatar. It is understood that the semi-finalists that lose to the eventual gold medallists at the European Games will also qualify for Qatar. However, AIBA have yet to clarify this.