AFTER a year on the sidelines, Tommy McCarthy is back in action at the Shorts Sports and Social Club on Saturday night.

FIGHTS fans can catch a glimpse of the top emerging talent in Ulster when they showcase their skills in a major youth international at the Balmoral Hotel in Belfast on Friday and Saturday night.

CLASSY Kurt Walker advanced to the last eight of the European Union Championships with a straightforward victory over Bulgaria’s Stefan Ivanov in Spain yesterday.

WAYNE McCullough winced as he watched Ryan Burnett reach for his lower back before dropping to the canvas at the SSE Arena on Saturday night.

IRELAND’S bantamweight king Kurt Walker heads to this week’s European Union Championships in confident mood but insists he is happy to play the long game, with both eyes fixed firmly on reaching the 2020 Olympic Games.

ADAM Booth says Michael Conlan remains a work in progress as he makes the transition from his successful amateur style to an effective set-up for the pro game.

THE door remains open for Ryan Burnett to return to the World Boxing Super Series (WBSS) fold as a reserve option, depending on how quickly he recovers from the back injury that forced him out of Saturday night’s quarter-final showdown with Nonito Donaire in Glasgow.

THEY don’t call it the pain game for nothing. Take the surge that coursed through Ryan Burnett’s body as he twisted to fire a right hand at Nonito Donaire, inexplicably finding himself in agony seconds later.

SERIK Konakbayev has vowed that Saturday’s defeat in the International Boxing Association (AIBA) presidential election in Moscow is just a first round reversal and the fight to save boxing’s Olympic future will continue.

Back in the day: 20 years ago today.. a look at some of the sports stories making the headlines in The Irish News...

THE booming music aside, a hush descended upon the Lomond Auditorium as a gaunt Nonito Donaire took to the scales shortly after 5pm yesterday.

IT’S been a weird old week here in Glasgow. The World Boxing Super Series (WBSS) is well established now, with the bantam and super-lightweight divisions following hot on the heels of the hugely successful cruiser and super-middleweight tournaments, but it remains something of a curiosity.

DON’T be surprised if Ryan Burnett stops Nonito Donaire in Glasgow tonight, says the Belfast fighter’s former stablemate Andy Lee.

DURING his days in Detroit, Andy Lee ate, slept and breathed boxing. When you were in Emmanuel Steward’s world, and in his house, you had no other choice.

BELFAST’S Ryan Burnett will face the “toughest challenge” of his career when he takes on Nonito Donaire in Glasgow tomorrow night, according to trainer Adam Booth.

RYAN Burnett was able to call upon a not-so-secret weapon during his preparations for tomorrow night’s World Boxing Super Series (WBSS) showdown with Nonito Donaire – fellow Belfast fighter Michael Conlan.

THE veteran trainer of Nonito Donaire has predicted that the ‘Filipino Flash’ will take Belfast’s Ryan Burnett “to school” when they face off at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow tomorrow night.

SEVENTEEN years after first lacing up gloves at the Belfast Kronk gym, a starry-eyed kid only at the start of the road but already sure of the destination, Ryan Burnett is living a dream he always believed would come true.