On This Day: August 7th
2012: Mick Conlan won a brilliant bronze at the London Olympics. The Belfast flyweight defeated Frenchman Nordine Oubaali (22-18) in the quarter finals at the ExCel Arena. Conlan had beaten the Gaul 20-17 in the World Championships the year previously (thus booking his place in London) and it was another close affair in the English capital. In the preceding round Conlan had beaten Ghanaian Duke Micah (19-8) but he would be eliminated in the semis by eventual gold medalist Robeisy Ramirez (10-20) of Cuba.
2010: Katie Taylor defeated Bulgarian Denitsa Eliseyeva 16-1 in the finals of the EU Championships in Keszthely, Hungary. The win was the Bray woman’s third consecutive EU gold. One of her most dominant medal runs, Taylor beat Spaniard Jennifer Miranda (8-0), Czechian Danuse Dilhofova (DQ3), and Pole Karolina Graczyk (9-3) en-route to the final.
1978: Belfast flyweight Hugh Russell scored a first round stoppage over Scot Joseph Park to guarantee a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games in Edmonton. Little Red had outpointed Wales’s Russell Jones in the last weekend but would be stopped himself in the semi finals by Canadian Ian Clyde.
1905: Jem Roche won the Irish heavyweight title at the Earlsfort Terrace Rink in Dublin with a tenth round disqualification win over Brooklyn-born Charles St Clair. Wexford legend Roche was a former Irish middleweight champ and would defend the belt thrice before losing and reclaiming the belt.
1935: In a rematch and reversal of their bout in Belfast the previous February, Dublin’s George Kelly reclaimed the Irish lightweight title against Belfast’s Billy Smith at Dalymount Park.
