Dylan Eagleson has Olympic ambitions

Dylan Eagleson still holds Olympic ambitions.

Eyebrows were raised when the teen, that burst onto the senior scene last year, didn’t enter the National Elites at the Olympic weight of 57kg.

The Pauls star instead fought at and won a first National Elite crown at 54kg. Speaking after that win, the talented Bangor fighter, who amazingly won European and Commonwealth medals before winning the highest national honour, didn’t address his decision not to move up but did reveal he still has Olympic plans.

“I’ve still got my eyes set on the Olympics, my name’s still there so we’ll just see what happens from here,” he told Irish-boxing.com.

In fairness, the question put to Eagleson was about one day turning over, so the Olympics he is speaking about may be 2028 rather than 2024.

Speaking to Belfast Live his coach explained they are in no major rush to move to featherweight, happy to let the superb young talent grow into the weight naturally.

“He has time on his hands, so we won’t be rushing into things,” Ralph McKay explained.

“The European Games this summer will be on his radar. It will all boil down to his training programme and the decision the High Performance team makes.

“But I am happy to see him box at 54kg and gradually build into the 57kgs, work on strength and conditioning.

“He is still maturing physically, but he is very mature inside the ring.”

Eagleson himself is keen to get back to the High Performance to develop further and to show his talent to the people that matter most Internationally.

“[The plan is to] get back to the High Performance and just show them that I am improving and just how good I am and see what they think from there.”

Eagleson claimed his first National Elite title with victory over former Spanish Elite finalist Jorge Rogla Castanno at the home of Irish boxing on Saturday.

The Commonwealth Games gold medal winner wasn’t overly happy with his performance but understands the chest infection he had in camp as well as the injuries late last year played a part in him not matching his high standards.

“Everyone knows I can box far better than that. I haven’t boxed since the Commonwealth Games so it was good to get the ring rust off. I didn’t have a proper camp for this. I picked up two or three injuries and was meant to box in a tournament before the Elites but I was injured,” he adds before revealing the presence of Brendan Irvine down at St Pauls has proved a big a help.

“It’s always in the back of your head but I have the best coaches and I’ve Brendan Irvine helping me now. Brendan’s been in the club a lot and he’s been helping with getting a positive mindset, it’s good to have Brendy back in the club.”

The exciting prospect also reveals a busy and high-end competitive 2022 took a toll on his body and he has made adjustments to adapt to senior elite competition.

“It had a big impact on me, it was hard on the body that’s why I started picking up injuries. I’ve started to do things right now with stretches and things like that.”