John Joe Joyce progressed to the semi-finals of the Olympic qualifiers following a quarter final win in Pescara, Italy tonight.
Light welterweight Joyce moved to within one bout of securing Olympic qualification after his Serbian opponent, Milan Piperski, was retired on his stool at the end of the second round with the St Michael's Athy man 14-3 up.
But Darren Sutherland was agonisingly edged out by one point by England's James deGale.
Dublin middleweight Sutherland lost to James deGale - an opponent he had beaten three times up until tonight - after the judges awarded the Englishman the contest on a 23-22 verdict.
Earlier today, Irish captain Ken Egan, and John Joe Nevin advanced to the semi finals following a convincing quarter-final victory.
Egan, from the Neilstown club in Dublin, took all four rounds against Bulgaria's Emil Krastev, cruising to an impressive 29-8 light heavyweight win on the Adriatic coast.
But super heavyweight Cathal McMonagle and lightweight Ross Hickey went out following quarter final reversals to Lithuania's Jaroslav Jaksto and Hungary's Miklos Varga.
Nevin stunned 2006 European silver medallist Detelin Dalakliev.
The Bulgarian national, ranked number seven in the World and number two in Europe, was being tipped as a hot favourite to advance at the expense of Cavan man this afternoon.
But the Irish 2008 Senior bantamweight champion produced a controlled display to carve out a deserved 16-15 quarter final victory in one of the performances of the tournament so far.
High Performance Director Gary Keegan said: 'We are so proud of John Joes performance. He kept his composure right up until the final bell and this was a magnificent victory against a world class opponent.'
Nevin can now qualify for the 2008 Olympics by winning his next fight. However, if he loses his semi final clash on Friday he will have a second shot at Olympic qualification in Pescara as there are three Olympic places on offer for bantamweights in Italy.
Likewise, Nevin - if he loses his last four clash - will go into a box off with the other beaten semi finalists with a place at the
Beijing 2008 Olympics up for grabs.
Tomorrow is a designated rest day at the Olympics qualifiers. The semi finals will glove off on Friday at 2pm. The finals and the box -offs between the beaten semi finalists begin on Saturday March 1st at 2pm.
Bantamweights, featherweights, welterweights and middleweights can secure Olympic qualification by reaching their respective finals or by reaching the semi finals and winning a box off with the other beaten semi finalists.
Boxers in all other weight categories must reach their respective finals to book their tickets for the Beijing Olympics.
Fifty one places are still up for grabs for European boxers for next summers Olympics in Beijing. Twenty six of those places will be distributed in Pescara this weekend with the balance to be disputed at the final Olympic qualifier for European boxers which begins in Athens on 7 April.
Quarter-final results:
54Kg: John Joe Nevin (Ireland) beat Detelin Dalakliev (Bulgaria) 16-15
60Kg: Ross Hickey (Ireland) lost to Miklos Varga (Hungary) 22-39
64Kg: John Joe Joyce (Ireland) beat Milan Piperski (Serbia) RET3
75Kg: Darren Sutherland (Ireland) lost to James deGale (England) 22-23
81Kg; Ken Egan (Ireland) beat Emil Krastev (Bulgaria) 29-8
91+Kg: Cathal McMonagle (Ireland) lost to Jaroslav Jaksto (Lithuania) 3-23
