Darren O’Neill falls to controversial defeat to home favourite at European Championships
Kilkenny heavyweight Darren O’Neill fell to an unfortunate defeat this afternoon in Kharkiv, Ukraine, at the European Championships.
The 2012 Olympian had received a bye to the Last 16, but was defeated on a contentious 4-1 split decision by Ramazazaqn Musilimov of the host nation.
The live stream for the bout would fail, but reports from Eastern European indicate that O’Neill was hard done by.
The defeat now means that O’Neill will miss out on the World Championships in Hamburg which start at the end of August.
It’s another dubious defeat for the Paulstown puncher who lost out harshly at the European Games and European Championships in 2015, and almost bafflingly so at the European Olympic Qualifier in 2016/
Also today, Dubliner Emmet Brennan lost his Last 16 clash with top Azeri Kamran Shakhsuvarly, a bronze medalist at the Rio Olympics.
It is believed that the Glasnevin middleweight still has a chance of World Championships qualification as German Silvio Schierle has reached the quarter finals here. As Germany are given automatic places for the world, it is believed that the qualifying place from the European Championships (where the Top 8 qualify) will be passed down to the boxer defeated in the last 16 by the eventual champion – so Irish fans will be cheering on Shakhsuvarly for the remainder of the tournament.
Kurt Walker started the day off with a sensational win over another Azeri, Tayfur Aliyev, to join Brendan Irvine and Sean McComb in the Last 8. All three box for medals tomorrow.
Joe Ward will round of Last 16 action for Ireland later today.
European Elite Men’s Championships Kharkiv, Ukraine June 14th/25th
June 16th
(Last 32)
64kg Sean McComb (Ireland) beat Erik Agateljan (Czech Republic) 5-0
June 17th:
Last 32
56kg Kurt Walker (Ireland) beat SeverianeChildaze (Georgia) 5-0
69kg Steven Donnelly (Ireland) lost to Sergei Sobylinski (Russia) 0-5
June 18th
Last 32
60kg Pat Mongan (Ireland) lost to Artur Bril (Germany) 0-5
75kg Emmet Brennan (Ireland) beat Bartosz Golebiewski (Poland) 3-2
June 19th
Last 16
52kg Brendan Irvine (Ireland) beat Bathuhan Citfci (Turkey) 5-0
60kg Sean McComb (Ireland) beat Vitaly Dunaystev (Russia) 3-2
91kg+ Dean Gardiner (Ireland) lost to Viktor Vykhryst (Ukraine) TKO2
June 20th
Last 16
56kg Kurt Walker (Ireland) beat Tayfur Aliyev (Azerbaijan) Split
75kg Emmet Brennan (Ireland) lost to Kamran Shakhsuvarly (Azerbaijan) 0-5
81kg Joe Ward (Ireland) v Matus Strnisko (Slovakia)
91kg Darren O’Neill (Ireland) lost to Ramazazaqn Musilimov (Ukraine) 1-4
June 21st
Q/Finals
52kg Brendan Irvine (Ireland) v Gabriel Escobar (Spain)
56kg Kurt Walker (Ireland) v Raffaele Di Serio (Italy)
64kg Sean McComb (Ireland) v Luke McCormack (England)
Irish squad
52kg – Flyweight – Brendan Irvine (St Pauls)
56kg – Bantamweight – Kurt Walker (Canal)
60kg – Lightweight – Patrick Mongan (Olympic)
64kg – Light-welter – Sean McComb (Holy Trinity)
69kg – Welterweight – Steven Donnelly (All Saints)
75kg – Middleweight – Emmett Brennan (Glasnevin)
81kg – Light-heavy – Joe Ward (Moate)
91kg – Heavyweight – Darren O’Neill (Paulstown)
91+kg – Super-heavy – Dean Gardiner (Clonmel)
High-Performance Director/Head of Delegation: Bernard Dunne
Head Coach: Zaur Antia
Coaches: Dmitry Dimitruc, Jimmy Payne, Eoin Pluck
Physio: Seamus Caffrey
Doctor: Jim Clover
Strength & Conditioning: John Cleary
Performance Analysis: Alan Swanton
Photo Credit: Ricardo Guglielminotti – The Fighting Irish (@ThefIrish)
