Barnes – Mickey Mouse could be in my corner and I’d still win gold

Light flyweight Paddy Barnes believes that Ireland can overcome the loss of Billy Walsh and still perform to their usual high standards at Rio 2016.

The double Olympic bronze medalist is aiming for gold in South America and is confident he can achieve this regardless of who is in his corner.

Speaking to SportsJoe.ie yesterday, the Belfast man explained that “the boxers who are going [to Rio] and those who will be qualifying are all world class. Mickey Mouse could be in our corner and we’re still going to go for gold.”

Indeed, Barnes feels that Walsh’s role has been overstated in recent times as “he doesn’t train Katie [Taylor], he doesn’t train me, it’s not his coaching that is world class, it’s his managing and developing the systems.”

Barnes continued: “Billy probably had training programs in place and camps and other things planned out and that’s all up in the air now so we’re not sure where we stand so close to Rio” and “it [Walsh’s departure] might affect us if new people don’t plan right and sort out the right camps.”

For Barnes full interviews with SportsJoe.ie click HERE and HERE.