The European Boxing Championships in Tampere, Finland turned out to be a rather dismal affair for the Irish. All five boxers lost their bouts at the first round stage. The National Light-Middleweight Champion, Micheal Roche, who is Ireland's sole qualifier for the Sydney Olympics, was forced to retire with an eye injury in the third round of his fight with Poland's Miroslaw Nowosada. Roche followed the same route as that taken by Flyweight Darren Campbell who lost 8-5 to Bacarda of Hungary, while Light heavyweight Sean O'Grady was disqualified for illegal use of the head after three warnings of his fight against his opponent, Narhan of Turkey.
