Frustrating Stoppage won’t dampen Paris 2024 Dream for European U22 silver medallist Adam Hession
It didn’t end the way he wanted it to but Adam Hession is already experienced enough to know that he is on the right path.
The Galway bantam won his first major medal – silver – at the European U22 Championships in Italy last month.
Alas, a second round stoppage loss to bull-strong Armenian Artur Bazeyan saw Hession cut a somewhat forlorn figure on the podium in Roseto degli Abruzzi.
However, reflection has allowed the Monivea talent to recognise the enormity of his achievement and leaves him confident that he is on the right path towards the Olympics in Paris in three years time.
The highly-rated Hession explained to Irish-Boxing.com that “now that I have had the time to look back on the tournament, I am happy with my performances and my over all tournament in and out of the ring.”
“Winning a European elite medal for Ireland is something I’m very proud of. It’s great to come away from a tournament with a medal to show for the hard work.”
Looking back on the gold medal bout – which came after impressive wins over Hungarian and German opposition – Hession recalls how “I thought my first round of the final was close and I wasn’t worried coming out of the corner knowing I was a round down. My fitness had stood to me in my previous bouts and I was confident I could up the tempo for the second and third round.”
“As for the counts, fair enough, I got caught the first time but I was 100% a half a second after that shot. The second count was a surprise. I couldn’t believe it when the ref pulled the contest. I had worked very hard to get to a final and with feeling 100% to continue it’s frustrating.
I finish up the European u22 championships with a silver medal🥈
Thanks so much to everyone who has been messaging and following me the last week, the support has been unreal 👏
It’s been a great week with a great team 🇮🇪 #boxing @IABABOXING #eubc #europeanu23championships pic.twitter.com/LS6haaI9cm
— Adam Hession (@adamhession2) June 25, 2021
The Connacht fighter, 2019 Elite champion at flyweight, has Olympic tunnel vision – a vision which has only been made clearer following his exploits in Italy.
Hession outlined how “Paris has always been the goal for me, I know that if I keep working hard I will be able to get the right results to get me on that plane to Paris.”
“It was great to see where I am on the European stage, I was confident going over with the work and training I had done in the high performance.”
“That under-22 team is a great team, we had a great medal haul but we were unlucky not to come home with more medals.”
