The penultimate Olympic boxing qualifier gets under way in Azerbaijan on Thursday, with Irish fighters Dean Walsh, Michael O’Reilly, Darren O’Neill and Dean Gardiner all attempting to secure their places at Rio 2016.
A record 469 boxers from 105 nations have entered the event in Baku which will award 39 Olympic spots.
Light-welterweight Walsh and middleweight O’Reilly will book their flights to Brazil if they finish in the top-five in their divisions, but heavyweight O’Neill and super-heavyweight Gardiner have no room for error, with only the winners in their classes advancing to the Olympic Games.
Paddy Barnes, Brendan Irvine, Michael Conlan, David Oliver Joyce, Steven Donnelly and Joe Ward, who have been training and sparring in the Azeri capital with fighters from 20 other nations for over a week as they ratchet up their preparations for the Games, return home tomorrow.
The final Olympic qualifier will be hosted in Vargas, Venezuela next month and is also open to professional pugilists.
