Michael Carruth the winner of Ireland's first ever boxing Olympic gold medal on the importance of the sport and plans for his future.
Boxing since he was seven years of age, amateur boxer Michael Carruth won the welterweight gold medal at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. The Dubliner is not opposed to being called the 'Tallaght Torpedo' as he has lived there for the past two years.
Michael Carruth joins actors Rachel Sarah Murphy and Ciarán Fitzgerald on the set of 'JMTV’ to discuss boxing. For him the sport is fun when he is winning but overall the training and competing is hard work and must be taken seriously.
You have to enjoy your boxing otherwise you’re not going to stick to it.
While Michael Carruth has broken both of his hands when sparring and competing, the worst injuries he ever sustained were from gymnastics when he was in the Irish Army. He feels people who are quick to criticise boxing as a dangerous sport do not understand that,
Amateur boxing is really one of the safest sports around.
Michael Carruth was 25 years of age when he won the Olympic gold medal. Since then he has only boxed once, when he helped raise funds for the Drimnagh Boxing Club.
If he is to box again it will be as a professional rather than amateur as
I’ve reached my pinnacle in winning the gold medal.
He mentions the Irish boxer Deirdre Gogarty who is forging a career as a boxing pro in America.
Michael Carruth is still training and weighing up all offers that come along. While professional boxing is often a way for working class people to make it big,
It’s a sport where anyone can get into it.
This episode of ‘JMTV’ was broadcast on 12 October 1993. The presenter is Don Delaney.
‘Jo-Maxi’ was a youth lifestyle programme targeted at ten to fourteen year olds on Network 2, a rebranded version of RTÉ 2 introduced in Autumn, 1988. The programme contained features on a broad range of topics including animals, fashion, music, books and profiles of young people voicing their views on various subjects. The original presenters on the show were Ray D’Arcy, Geri Lalor, Clíona Ní Bhuachalla and Antoinette Dawson. It was first broadcast on 10 October 1988. In 1993 it was rebranded as ‘JMTV’ and continued until 1994.
