Brendan Irvine breezes past Barbados into Commonwealth quarters

Brendan Irvine breezed onto the medal rounds this morning at the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast.

The Rio Olympian boxed in the flyweight Last 16 in Australia and had no issues whatsoever, cruising past Barbadian Jabali Breedy and scoring a comfortable win.

Earlier in the day Belfast lightweight James McGivern obliterated Zambian Emmanuel Ngoma but it was a cagier affair here.

Breedy began looking to counter-punch but was outskilled by Irvine. Changing tact, the islander began to chase and Irvine handily picked him off.

The unorthodox Caribbean fighter chased into a second but Irvine barely left first-gear – bar a crowd-pleasing salvo in the closing seconds.

Perhaps looking to impress, Irvine went on the front foot in the final round – and was clipped with a couple for his troubles – but rounded out the win, being confirmed a unanimous decision victor moments later.

Irvine will box for bronze on Wednesday at around 5:15am. He faces Botswanan Rajab Mahommed, a Commonwealth Youth bronze medalist who received a bye to the Last Eight.

Tomorrow is an exceptionally busy day Down Under. At 3:15am Michaela Walsh begins her campaign, with the Belfast feather looking to guarantee bronze versus another Botswanan, Keamogetse Kenosi. At 6:15am big Dee Sullivan boxes for heavyweight bronze, facing a mountainous task versus home favourite Jason Whately. Just over an hour later, Kurt Walker will hope to bag bantamweight bronze versus Moroke Mokhotho of Lesotho and then, finally, after midday, Stephen McMonagle fights for super heavy bronze against Kiwi Patrick Mailata.

All times are Irish time. The Gold Coast is nine hours ahead.

Photo Credit: Ricardo Guglielminotti – The Fighting Irish (@ThefIrish)