European Elite bronze medalist Christina Desmond is out of Saturday’s Irish middleweight final at Dublin’s National Stadium final after picking up a leg injury.
The Cork southpaw tore ligaments in her left knee and made the decision yesterday that she would not contest the 75kg decider against Aoife Burke.
Dublin-native Burke will now receive a walkover: "I decided that it wasn’t worth the risk of making the injury worse," said Desmond.
"It’s a big year for women’s boxing and I’ll give the injury time to heal now and I’ll be back all the stronger," added the defending champion.
Four defending champions - Martin Keenan, Kellie Harrington, Grainne Walsh and Dervla Duffy - will put their titles on the line at the home of Irish boxing in 16 finals on Saturday.
Sixteen male and female finals will be decided on Saturday night. Martin Keenan, the only male defending champion, meets Dean Gardiner in a Limerick v Tipperary super-heavyweight All-Ireland.
The clash is a repeat of last-year’s box-off, which Gardiner, a two-time Elite champion, won to claim his place on the Irish team for the European Championships.
Dublin’s World Elite finalist Kellie Harrington is facing a tricky encounter with Amy Broadhurst in an all southpaw lightweight battle over three, three minute rounds.
Broadhurst is a former European Youth champion. The 15-time Irish underage gold medalists lost in the last-four of the English ABA Elite Championships last year.
