Michael Conlan and Adam Nolan will be seeking two wins for Ireland at the ExCel in London tonight.
Michael Conlan (red) v Chris Phelan
Michael Conlan will make his eagerly anticipated Olympic debut at the ExCel in London tonight versus Ghanaian flyweight Duke Akeuth Micah.
Adam Nolan has already secured one win at the 30th Olympiad and will also be in action in this evening’s last-16 deciders.
Conlan, who received a bye into this stage of proceedings, is the fourth boxer from the St John Bosco BC to compete at the Olympics.
Bantamweight Freddie Gilroy, a bronze medal winner at the 1956 Games, flyweight Sean McCafferty (1964) and featherweight Martin Quinn (1968) have represented the Belfast club on the highest stage of them all.
Micah booked his ticket for London 2012 at the African qualifiers in Casablanca, Morocco earlier this year and ousted Jason Olivier Lavigilante in his opening contest this week.
France’s Nordine Ouballi, who Conlan beat to qualify for London from the 2011 AIBA World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan, meets 2007 AIBA World champion Raushee Warren (USA) in the corresponding bout tonight.
Nolan, who along with Katie Taylor is one of two Bray BC athletes at London 2012, is in against Russian welterweight Andrey Zamkovoy.
Adam Nolan
Zamkovoy, like Conlan, qualified for London by virtue of reaching the last-eight of 2011 AIBA World Championships.
The Russian beat Ireland’s Willie McLaughlin in the quarter-finals of the 2009 AIBA World Championships in Milan en route to silver.
Wexford-native Nolan goes into tonight’s three-rounder having already secured a confidence boosting 14-8 win over Carlos Sanchez Estacio (Ecuador) on his Olympic debut last Sunday night.
“Michael and Adam weighed-in this morning and they are in great spirits. They went for a walk with the squad this morning and are very much looking forward to tonight, said Irish team manager Des Donnelly.
“It has been a long wait for Michael and he can’t wait to get in the ring at these Olympics tonight.”
Meantime, Irish team captain Darren O’Neill will be back at the ExCel this evening cheering on Conlan and Nolan as Ireland seek to get another two boxers over the line into the quarter-finals.
O’Neill said he was gutted after losing out to Germany’s Stefan Hartel yesterday.
However, the Irish skipper is putting that disappointment behind him and summed up the spirit in the Ireland camp ahead of what is a crucial four days for Irish boxing.
“We have five other boxers here and at the end of the day we are a team and I’m going to be standing cheering and supporting these boys as best as I possibly can,” said the Kilkenny southpaw.
Conlan will be in the ring at approximately 8.45pm this evening, followed by Nolan at approximately 9.45pm.
