Joe Ward will look to emulate team captain Michael Conlan by becoming world champion when he takes on Cuba’s Julio la Cruz in tonight’s light-heavyweight final.
Conlan became the first Irishman to win a world amateur gold medal when he defeated Uzbekistan's Murodjon Akhmadaliev in yesterday's bantamweight final and both fighters landed the gold medal at this year's European championships (pictured below).
Ward booked his place at next year’s Olympic Games by reaching the final, with a 3-0 unanimous decision over Ishod Rasulov of Uzbekistan at the World Championships in Qatar.
And now the Moate man is looking to add the world title to his long list of career achievements as he boxes for gold in the Doha arena.
The 21-year-old has previously landed gold at the World Youth and Junior championships, bronze at the 2013 World Amateur championships and is already two-time European champion.
Big goodluck to my team mate Joe Ward tonight, I hope he can follow me and pick up that World title tonight!! #AIBAWorlds2015 #TeamIreland
— Michael Conlan (@mickconlan11) October 15, 2015
Ward is due into the ring in Doha at 6pm (Irish time) and his fight will be shown live on the RTÉ Player, with the full fight shown on RTÉ2 from 7pm.
