BRENDAN IRVINE will bid to follow in the footsteps of Lennox Lewis after signing up for the prestigious Feliks Stamm tournament in Poland.
Former world heavyweight king Lewis came out on top in Warsaw in 1987 before going on to win Olympic gold in Seoul for Canada the following summer. With one eye on October’s World Championships in Qatar, Irvine can but dream of recreating that sequence of events, as he still harbours hope of making it to next summer’s Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
A silver medal showing at last month’s inaugural European Games in Baku propelled him into the public consciousness, his image adorning back pages across the north. Four weeks on, he is back in the groove after spending a week at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield with his Irish team-mates.
“Myself, Michael [Conlan] and Seán [McComb] are going to the Feliks Stamm tournament in September, so it’s just about getting back at it, staying focused,” said the man known as ‘Wee Rooster’.
“It’s a big tournament, a lot of the top countries will be there so it’ll be perfect preparation for the Worlds.”
Spending that week in the Steel city, he says, helped refocus the mind.
“The set-up over there is amazing. You do everything together, everything’s geared towards athletes, so you don’t be long getting into the swing of things.
“I got some good quality sparring against the likes of [English light-fly] Harvey Horn. There was teams there from Estonia, Italy, Morocco and Norway too. It was all about learning new techniques.”
Far from being cocky about his achievements in Azerbaijan, the 19-year-old admits he is still gutted not to have returned with a gold medal. The attention, the media interest, none of it matters. Boxing is Brendan Irvine’s world.
“I’ve watched it back a few times since, and I still think I did enough to win it,” says the St Paul’s stylist.
“I didn’t win the gold, but that just makes me more hungry. I wasn’t even really buzzing about the silver – I was more focused on getting back to training and working on the things I need to improve.”
There can’t be too much left as he has progressed from a teenager who, this time last year, was frustrated by walkover after walkover. In the ensuing 12 months he has been crowned Irish Elite champion and announced himself on the European stage.
If he medals at the Worlds, the Irish Amateur Boxing Association will be left with a difficult decision regarding Rio as two-time Olympian Paddy Barnes has already qualified through the World Series of Boxing. Irvine isn’t expecting any favours but he still hopes that, by hook or by crook, he can make it to Brazil.
He said: “Billy Walsh said for me just to go out to the Worlds and if I qualify, then we’ll just have to sit down and look at it.
“But Paddy’s Paddy, he’s achieved a lot in the sport. At the minute he’s qualified, so he’s happy enough.
“When we get back from the Worlds the Irish seniors aren’t that long after, and then there’s still qualification next year too, so I could enter the seniors at 52 kilos. I know Billy wants me to stay at 49, but that could be another option for me.”
