FORMER Irish head coach Billy Walsh believes lower expectations heading into the upcoming Olympic Games will suit Ireland’s boxers down to the ground.
Walsh was involved for most of the previous Olympic cycle before being appointed USA head coach 10 months out from Rio 2016, when established stars like Katie Taylor, Michael Conlan and Paddy Barnes were seen as shoo-ins for medals.
Instead the best team Ireland has ever sent to an Olympic Games returned home empty-handed, the fall-out from Rio well documented at this stage after some shocking decisions that led to corruption claims against governing body AIBA.
Five years down the line it is a less experienced, less well-known Irish team that travelled out to Japan last week, where they will commence sparring today alongside Walsh’s USA and several other nations at their training base in Myasaki.
Against the traditional backdrop of turmoil within the Irish Athletic Boxing Association - this time over the future of High Performance director Bernard Dunne - qualifying seven boxers was seen as a considerable success.
And Walsh believes their low profile can be of benefit by the time by action gets under way in Tokyo on July 24.
“For sure it makes life easier,” said the Wexford man.
“You can slip under the radar, there’s not that much media attention and they can get on about their business. It definitely helps.
“When we were going to London [in 2012], there was a lot of expectation so we got the guys out of Ireland. We had a media day a month or so before, down at the National Stadium, and that was that.
“I have to say I was absolutely thrilled to see so many of the Irish guys qualify. I know all the guys, they were all in the system even when I was there.
“To qualify seven boxers, when they’re going through so much turmoil there, all the flak that Bernard has taken, I was thrilled for them. Watching their performances, they were phenomenal, deserved every one of them.”
Walsh’s situation, and the expectations surrounding his own team, are different this time around too.
Going out to Brazil, especially having only just arrived into the set-up, he could only improve on their showing in London four years earlier when Claressa Shields’s gold medal was all they pocketed.
Middleweight queen Shields repeated the dose in Rio, while a silver for Shakur Stevenson and bronze for Nico Hernandez restored some pride. Now, though, a nine-strong team is packed with serious medal potential.
“There’s a bit more expectation.
“We finished sixth in the medal table in Rio, which was a big change from where they had been. The difference in Ireland and other countries is you’re able to keep guys for multiple Games – the likes of Paddy, Michael, Katie.
“The average age of the team I had in Rio was 19.1, this time they are mostly around 21-22, so they have a bit more experience under their belt with regards international boxing.
“These guys have all been with me since they were youths, the girls are a little bit older, they’ve been around longer, been tested on the world stage and three of the guys are World medallists, there’s Pan-Am champions… those experiences are there.
“Every one of them is capable of winning a medal. Is that liable to happen? Probably not, but it’s the first time I’ve ever been with a team that’s able to do that.”
Making a surprise return to bolster the team last month were professional trio Duke Ragan - at Kurt Walker’s 57kg weight class - middleweight Troy Isley and highly-rated lightweight Keyshawn Davis.
Ragan has four pro fights on his record, Isley has fought twice this year since turning pro with Top Rank – his most recent bout on June 12 – with Davis boxing in February, April and May.
However, all three were allowed to return to the vest as a result of a shake-up in the qualification process, their current rankings bringing them back into the fold once the World Olympic qualifier was scrapped.
And, having been bound for Tokyo with America’s smallest boxing team in 85 years a matter of weeks ago, Walsh is delighted to have them back.
“I always felt if you turned over to go professional, so be it, best of luck. But they’ve come up with a system now where you’re able to do both, and these guys have been with me.
“Three years ago I thought, more or less, this was the team I thought I was going to have, and they’ve come back together again. We had a conversation when they arrived back into camp, they thought maybe people mightn’t have wanted them back or whatever, so we had a sit down together. They were absolutely thrilled to be back with the team.
“They wanted to go to the Olympic Games, they felt at the time they had no real option other than to go.”
