OF the 700-odd boxers bound for Busto Arsizio in a fortnight’s time, all unpacking Olympic dreams upon arrival in this Italian city south-east of Milan, few – if any – will have had to travel as tough a road as Jude Gallagher.
For the Newtownstewart man, it is a second shot at securing a spot in Paris this summer.
The end of June, the European qualifier inside Krakow’s Nowy Targ Arena, delivered safe passage for Kellie Harrington, Michaela Walsh, Aoife O’Rourke, Dean Clancy and Jack Marley, their five-star performances bolstering Ireland’s Olympic ambitions a year out for the big one.
But for the rest, Gallagher included, it was back to the drawing board. He had the misfortune of being paired with the eventual winner of the featherweight division - Cuban-born Bulgarian Javier Ibanez - first out and, despite a rip-roaring first round, the fight slipped from his grasp.
“I didn’t know much about the lad, but I went in and couldn’t have had a better first round.
“I was 5-0 up, the corner was saying just keep doing what you’re doing then, to be honest, I could not feel my legs when I got off that stool. I don’t know why.
“I tried to get my jab going but it was taking all my energy to get anything going, and you could see it in the second and third round - I was sort of just slogging it out…”
Yet the 22-year-old, who is currently with the rest of the Irish team at a training camp in Assisi, has never been one to get too up, or too down.
Krakow was a disappointment given Gallagher’s high standards but, no sooner was it over, than focus turned to ensuring he was the one picked to go to the first World qualifier. That, though, could hardly have been a tougher ask.
Where some weight classes were a foregone conclusion at the Irish elite championships, 57kg was anything but. Defending champion Paul Loonam fell to Dylan Eagleson in his first fight, leaving the Bangor man, Davy Joyce and Adam Hession all with solid claims to the crown.
Injury had forced Gallagher out of the Irish elites earlier in the year, so there was pressure to perform on his return to the National Stadium. Facing fellow Commonwealth Games gold medallist Eagleson twisted the valve a little bit more.
But it was Gallagher who managed to come out on top of the championships’ most stacked pool, beating Eagleson before trumping Hession in the final. Having travelled to Poland off the back of behind-closed-doors assessments, leaving others to question the wisdom of that call, this time there could be no argument.
“It was just pure relief.
“Having not been able to enter the last elites because of my hand, I got my chance in the assessments and came out on top. But people still say ‘aw, he’s not the elite champion’ and all that.
“I knew with the weight division being so stacked, and having lost at the Europeans, that my spot was up for grabs. I really had to secure it this time.
“To come out top and prove to everybody that I was the best in the division was such a relief.”
And to do so by overcoming such familiar foes proved he was operating at the top of his game.
“Ah, it was strange enough,” he laughed.
“Me, Dylan and Adam are in the same team this last number of years, we live with each other, we know each other. I get on really well with the two of them, then when we get into the ring there’s no messing, grudges or anything like that – it’s just honest work.
“We use each other for our own advantage. I’m still learning off them, and likewise, so it goes hand in hand. I know other people find it funny, but we just get on with it.
“Coming into the elites, the training camp I had was second to none. I felt great, but you don’t really know where you stand until you get in there. Whoever I drew, I was ready to be tested from the first bell, it just so happened to be Dylan.
“As soon as the final bell went, we embraced each other, and he goes ‘Jude, I f**king love you’ - I’m not even joking, after nine minutes of punching the head off each other!
“You wouldn’t get that anywhere else and, really, that is the beauty of the sport. Every boxer knows what everybody else has to go through, the sacrifices, so there’s a respect across the board.”
With no subsequent assessment at featherweight, Gallagher was able to keep his eyes fixed on the job at hand rather than looking over his shoulder.
The Irish coaches love his honest, everything-in approach to the sport and now he finds himself back where he wanted to be – chasing the semi-final spot in Busto Arsizio that would pave the way to Paris.
Back in Dublin Gallagher had been sparring Hession, Joyce and Grainne Walsh before mixing it with some of Europe’s best in Assisi as the opening day of competition (March 3) nears.
The Olympics, the significance of the occasion, he is trying to filter all of that out for now. But, nine months on from the pain in Poland, Jude Gallagher feels as good as he ever has.
“In the elites, it was the best I ever boxed as a senior. I felt really mature and disciplined, emotionally I wasn’t getting carried away or getting caught up in the fights the way I could have at times.
“Everything is really standing to me now in terms of all competitions I’ve had, the training, the fights… it can only add to your game. If I perform well out here, the results will hopefully take care of themselves - I want to get the job done this time, and I feel like it is my time.
“I just feel like, with everything that’s happened over the last while, I’ve found what works and what doesn’t work.”