OLYMPIC champion Kellie Harrington has given her backing to Irish high performance director Bernard Dunne - and hopes the former world champion stays put for the foreseeable future.

THEY have gone from pillar to post and back again many times over the past 15 months, but finally Phoenix Boxing Club in Lurgan have moved into their new home.

OLYMPIC golden girl Kellie Harrington makes her eagerly-anticipated return to the ring today when she boxes at the Strandja International tournament in the Bulgarian capital Sofia.

JIM Montague lost his first two contests as an amateur and he had his mind made up to quit when his elder brother Terry stepped in.

HE was a classy boxer in his own punching pomp, but now JP Delaney is helping develop an impressive stable of amateur stars at Emerald Boxing Club – with Olympians Aidan and Michaela Walsh the latest to join forces with the west Belfast trainer.

KURT Walker couldn't really have timed his switch from amateur to professional any better.

NEWLY-CROWNED Irish U22 champion Dylan Eagleson has the potential to go far in the amateur game, according to club coach Ralph McKay.

AMANDA Serrano will be tested like never before and she'll have to prove she has the heart to survive war “in the trenches” when she steps up to Ireland's undisputed world champion Katie Taylor at Madison Square Garden, New York on April 30th.

‘Coco rules the Paras’ Graffiti on the wall at Herbert Street in Ardoyne, north Belfast INCREDIBLE stories come tumbling out… “Sorry, am I talking too quickly?” asks Eamon McAuley.

YES, he’s 6’1”.

EXPERIENCED coach Harry Hawkins has questioned the wisdom of the revamped weight classes at this summer’s Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

BRENDAN Ingle, the Dublin-born guru of Sheffield boxing, was his mentor.

EDDIE Hearn predicts a bear-pit atmosphere at a packed Nottingham Arena when Michael Conlan challenges champion Leigh Wood for the WBA featherweight title on March 12.

MICHAEL Conlan has vowed to “punch the head off” Leigh Wood when the pair meet in Nottingham next month.

CAOIMHIN Agyarko will star on the undercard of Mick Conlan’s bid for the WBA featherweight title in Nottingham on March 12.