Darren O’Neill will renew acquaintances with Russia’s Rio 2016 Olympic champion Evgeny Tischenko at Dublin’s National Stadium tomorrow evening.
Vladimir Nikitin, the bronze medallist at Rio who so controversially defeated Michael Conlan, is also in action for Russia against Galway lightweight Patrick Mongan.
Nikitin, who was beaten in the Great Silk Way final in Baku on St Patrick’s Day last, has moved up from bantam to light since his Olympic quarter-final with Conlan last August.
O’Neill, meanwhile, has beaten Tischenko in the past, but the Russian heavyweight decisioned the Kilkenny southpaw at the 2015 Europeans to level the scoring at 1-1.
Ireland, France, Germany, Italy and Russia meet in a four-day Bank Holiday round-robin at the home of Irish boxing.
All five nations are building toward June’s European Championships in the Ukraine.
George Bates faces French Rio 2016 silver medallist Sofiane Oumiha in the lightweight class tomorrow afternoon, but World Youth bronze medallist, Michael Nevin, is out of the tournament after picking up an illness.
Steven Donnelly, who claimed two victories at Rio 2016, is in against Russia's Artem Zaitsev.
Meanwhile, Bernard Dunne, who was unveiled as the new IABA High Performance Director today, will attend the weekend’s round-robin featuring five of the powerhouse nations of world amateur boxing.
Friday's boxing begins at 2pm. A second session begins at 5.30pm and runs straight through.
