David Oliver Joyce paid tribute to his family and coaching staff after he achieved Olympic qualification for the very first time with a defeat of Volkan Gokcek at the European Olympic qualifiers in Turkey.
Joyce, who came out on the wrong side of a dubious unanimous verdict when he faced Britain’s Joseph Cordina in his lightweight semi-final, sealed his place at Rio 2016 by prevailing on a split decision in his box-off against Turkey’s Gokcek in front of a partisan crowd in Samsun.
“I’m over the moon. I’ve been trying for this since 2007,” a relieved Joyce said after the bout.
“I want to dedicate this fight to my late granny, who passed away less than a year ago, who wanted to see me live my dream since I was a kid.
“I just want to say that I did it for her.
“I want to thank the staff that are with me here.
“The coaches, the doctors have done a fantastic job with me.”
Special praise was reserved for the fighter’s father and his club coach, mainstays in his development, with Joyce adding: “Most of all, I want to thank my club coach Dominic O’Rourke and my dad, who took me out of bed when I was a small kid to make me train and make me the boxer I am today.
Appraising his performance and his opponent, he said: “I dug deep right to the very end. He’s a great kid, that Turk guy. I’m sure he will qualify in the next couple of qualifiers. But I knew that I have the engine to go for it three rounds, flat out.
Coach Eddie Bolger warmly welcomed the news that Joyce would join a burgeoning group of Rio-bound prospects, saying: “Nobody deserves it more than Davey and I’m just delighted that he got over the line in the end, to be honest.
“We’ve a couple of names now. We’ve Paddy Barnes, Michael Conlan, Stephen Donnelly, Joe Ward, Brendan Irvine and now David Oliver Joyce.
“And we’re going to keep chipping away and see if we can get a few more.”
Zaur Antia, who has served as Ireland’s head coach since Billy Walsh’s controversial departure, was also keen to laud Joyce’s achievement.
“David did very well,” the Georgian enthused.
“He did the plan, implemented it exactly.
“He fought for every second, every minute and he deserves it.”
Joyce wrapped up his interview with a message to his wife and children, saying: “To my wife, Melissa, at home and to my three kids, my fantastic three kids - Amber, Mickey Joe and Reanna, I can’t wait to see you and I did it for you.
“You mean the whole world to me and I’m going to show you the love that I’ve missed for the last three weeks.”
The St Michael’s Athy fighter produced a notably higher punch count than his opponent from the bell.
The Turkish fighter struggled to parry a flurry of Joyce combinations early on, with the Irish fighter’s all-action style only briefly interrupted when Gokcek was cautioned by the referee for a punch to the back of the head.
A potent uppercut from Joyce then appeared to open the left eye of Gokcek, with the Irishman taking the round on two of the three judges' scorecards.
The second round was a slightly less frantic affair, which suited the more languid style of Gokcek. Both men struggled to connect with meaningful blows, swinging and missing on a number of occasions in a scrappy round that went to the home hope on the cards of all three judges.
Gokcek found his range with a straight left early in the third round, but the pugnacious Joyce struck back, doing considerable damage with a number of left hooks.
The referee had to stop the action in the concluding round to allow treatment for a cut above Gokcek’s left eye. Joyce inflicted another barrage of combination shots before the final bell and was awarded the round by all three judges.
Blood was pumping from the right eye of Joyce as his hand was raised aloft, but he cared little for the state of his orbital socket as he celebrated wildly.
The 29-year-old is the third member of his extended family to secure Olympic qualification, with cousin Joe Ward also making the plane for Brazil in the light-heavyweight division. Another cousin, John Joe Joyce, started the proud family tradition when he appeared at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
