Coach Eddie Bolger leaves Irish High Performance Unit

Coach Eddie Bolger has left the Irish High Performance set-up to take up a role with the German team.

The move comes ahead of the 2017 World Championships, which will take place in Hamburg this September.

The Wexford coach played an especially large role with double European gold medalist Joe Ward.

The news that Bolger was considering an approach from the Germans was initially reported on Saturday by Kevin Byrne of The Irish Sun.

Bolger’s departure comes following the move of former head coach Billy Walsh to Team USA in 2015. New head coach Zaur Antia recently signed a deal with the IABA that will keep him in Ireland until the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

A statement released this evening by the IABA read:

We can confirm that Eddie Bolger, pictured, has resigned from his role as High-Performance Coach with the Irish Athletic Boxing Association (“IABA”) to be Head Coach with the German National Team.

Eddie has worked as part of Ireland’s High-Performance Team for the last two years and was one of the three coaches who accompanied the Irish Boxers to the Olympic Games in 2016 alongside Head Coach Zaur Anita and John Conlan. Prior to his appointment Eddie had worked since 2008 on a voluntary basis with the High-Performance Team.

The IABA would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge Eddie’s contribution to High-Performance boxing in Ireland and to sincerely thank him for all his efforts. Eddie would himself like to thank the IABA, its volunteers and staff for their assistance.