‘Something Special’ – Eric Donovan full of praise for Olympic hopeful
It was always going to take something special to come out on top of a talent-stacked National Elite featherweight division this year, so it was fitting eventual winner Jude Gallagher is just that, ‘something special’, suggests Eric Donovan.
A world-level field contested the Olympic weight class at national level last month, with Gallagher emerging top of a talented pile to win his second Elite crown and put himself in pole position to be selected for the Olympic qualifiers early next year.
European Union and European Championships medal winner, Donovan has been working with the Two Castles man for several years, has cornered both his Elite title wins and has always been an advocate of his talents,
The EU title winner says the Commonwealth Games gold medal winner needed all that talent to secure victory at 57kg in Ireland this year and was extremely proud he finished top of the class in a field full of ‘class acts’.
“I’m always confident of Jude doing the business,” Donovan told Irish-boxing.com.
“He works so hard and I know what he puts into the sport. He sacrificed so much and he left no stone unturned in preparation. We knew that he had enough in his locker to come through these championships and we also knew he had a difficult opponent in Adam Hession [in the final].
“I’ve a lot of respect for Hession he’s a class act, so is [Paul] Loonam, so is [Dylan] Eagleson, so is [John] Joyce, so is [Paddy] McShane and all these guys in the featherweight division.
“Honestly, I’ve so much respect for them they are class fighters but I had to back my guy. I’ve been working with him for some time now and when he performs he really is something special.”
After winning Commonwealth gold in impressive fashion the Tyrone 20-year-old was fancied to have a run at Olympic qualification at the European Games in June. However, he was unable to get his ticket to the plane to Paris at the June qualifiers.
Respected boxing brain, Donovan is confident he will make the most of the next Olympic opportunity presented him early next year.
“People don’t realize he had a lot to contend with over the last while, injuries, he was out of the sport for a long time and he couldn’t punch for four months last year. He is back and he’s boxing at his best right now. Fingers crossed for a big year next year. The ultimate goal is to qualify for Paris and he’s put himself in a very strong position to do that now.”
