HAD things worked out differently, Aidan Walsh might have got up close and personal with his next opponent before even travelling to Paris.
Since March 15 2020, Walsh has known he would be facing Frenchman Wahid Hambli in the last 16 of the European Olympic qualifying competition – win, and he is guaranteed two shots at realising his lifelong dream, either by progressing beyond the quarter-final stage or in a box-off should he lose.
None of those permutations, not even the shake-up in the qualification system earlier this year that saw the final World qualifier canned, has had any bearing on his thought process. Hambli was the next man way back then, originally meant to be St Patrick’s Day last year, and he is the next man now.
Nothing has changed.
With the European event finally set to resume on Friday, Walsh and the Irish team depart for Paris today. Yet he and Hambli were due to come together sooner than expected when France joined teams from Great Britain and Italy at a training camp in Jordanstown back in March.
Normally protocol prevents prospective opponents coming together in such circumstances, but they were ready to go until Hambli failed to make the 69 kilo limit.
“I was there to fight, I was on my weight - it was no problem to me,” says Walsh.
“It is what it is, and I was confident I’d go in and do what I do best, the same as in the qualifier. When I found out we weren’t fighting that was it; bang, move on to the next thing. We’ve become used to dealing with the unexpected or things changing at the last minute.
“It’s made us all a bit resilient. Even from last March [at the original qualifier], I remember going to my first fight wondering ‘will this still be going ahead?’ I fought and I won, then on the way back I was eating my dinner and I heard it was being cancelled.
“You have to readjust. I always try to take the positives from every situation and see this as a life lesson. You just take what’s in front of you, be in the moment and let it all happen.
“In Jordanstown there last month, I was in tournament mode so it was just focusing on the next guy, not whoever I was supposed to fight. That was my mindset.”
In that same camp, Walsh proved too good for Italy’s Vincenzo Mangiacapre – an Olympic bronze medallist in 2012 – before getting in some hard rounds with brothers Luke and Pat McCormack.
Although he wasn’t part of the Irish team that competed at the Strandja tournament in Bulgaria back in February, the Monkstown counter-puncher insists he is as sharp and as ready as he could be heading into a do-or-die qualifier.
A student of the amateur game, for years he has watched other boxers – some he knew, some he didn’t – on their own journey, reaching this stage and targeting the big one. Then, as now, Walsh was determined to get a piece of the action for himself.
“I remember when I was a kid seeing all these different boxers and thinking ‘that would be amazing’,” says the 24-year-old, whose sister Michaela is also gunning for a spot at Tokyo 2021.
“So for me to be a part of it, and especially with Michaela, in years to come we’ll look back at this and say ‘that was an amazing time in our lives. We’re so lucky we experienced that’.
“We all know this doesn’t last forever but we’ve made sacrifices, being away from family and friends, so you have to enjoy these moments when they come around because that’s what you’re here for.
“I could be sitting in the house now hoping to go away somewhere, waiting for anything. Lots of boxers, because of Covid, haven’t fought in ages where I’ve been training as normally basically, albeit with different rules and regulations.
“Getting to do something you love every day is a blessing. I love training, I love being active. Outside of boxing I try to be as active as I can so I’m grateful for this opportunity, and grateful that the Olympics are still happening because things could obviously have changed there.
“Now we’re heading over to Paris for one thing only - to qualify. That’s it.”
IRELAND ROCKED BY NEVIN ABSENCE AS PORTLAOISE PUNCHER EYES PRO MOVE
IRELAND travelled to Paris under a cloud yesterday after it was revealed that middleweight Michael Nevin had turned his back on the Olympic dream and opted to pursue a professional career.
The Portlaoise stylist, a bronze medallist at the 2019 European Games, was seen as a genuine contender once the Olympic qualifier resumes in the French capital on Friday. However, news of his shock switch to the paid ranks on the eve of such a major competition comes as a major blow.
It is understood that Nevin hasn’t been attending squad training at the High Performance unit in Abbotstown during recent months and didn’t travel with the squad to the Strandja tournament in Bulgaria or participate in a training camp in Jordanstown last month.
To make matters worse, the Irish Athletic Boxing Association isn’t even able to call upon a short notice replacement because the 23-year-old had already begun the competition prior to its postponement in March 2020 - defeating experienced Dutchman Max van der Pas in his opening bout in London.
Nevin had been due to fight Armenia’s Arman Darchinyan the day after the qualifier was suspended due to the rising Covid-19 threat. Had he won that it would have guaranteed him two shots at qualification for Tokyo – in the quarter-final, or via a subsequent box-off if he lost.
As it is, Darchinyan will receive a straight pass to the last eight.
Nevin becomes the second member of the Irish team to leave the squad in the past year after Tipperary super-heavyweight Dean Gardiner confirmed he was quitting boxing to concentrate on his degree.
However, unlike in the case of Nevin, Ireland can replace Gardiner at the European qualifier because the Clonmel man had yet to box at the tournament. The inexperienced Gytis Lisinskas will replace Gardiner in Paris.
