Euro-bound James Whelan ready for ‘next step’
James Whelan will be looking to carry his knockout form into the European U22 Championships.
The Dublin Dockland’s boxer placed an eight Irish title into his packed trophy cabinet when he claimed National Senior honours over the weekend.
The 20-year-old now heads to Budva next month where he will test himself against the very best young talent in Europe.
Whelan makes the trip confident he is ready for the continental challenges and is targeting a podium finish in Montenegro.
“I’ll be eying up a medal for sure, please God, a gold one,” he tells Irish-boxing.com.
“That’s the next in my career in amateur boxing. I was originally entering the Elites but I had a talk with my coach and would advance my career, I’ll get a bit of international experience as well.”
Whelan goes into the tournament buoyed by his first senior title win and in particular his semi-final and quarter-final knockouts.
“I do have a lot of self-belief in myself and confidence, definitely now coming off two knockout wins, so I’ll definitely be eyeing up a medal.”
The young Dub got a walkover in the final – which denied him the chance to equal clubmate Gareth Dowling’s three ko championship winning stoppage run – but claims that didn’t detract from the title victory.
“I had two hard fights before this, it’s a long process over three weeks so it does feel well-earned.”
