Ward tipped for Olympic glory

Moate boxer Joe Ward has been described as "a world-class talent" by former featherweight champion Barry McGuigan, who tipped him to be "among the medals" at this summer's Olympics. The 18-year-old has yet to qualify for the games in London but he took a major step towards qualification with a superb win over 2008 Olympic silver-medallist Kenneth Egan in the National Light Heavyweight senior boxing final in Dublin last Friday. He now goes on to Turkey, where the final Olympic qualification tournament for European boxers will be held in April. The Farnagh, Moate, native defeated Egan for the second time in successive national finals and his 19-point margin of victory last weekend was much more decisive than when they first met in 2011. McGuigan was at ringside for the bout and, in an interview with the Westmeath Independent, he said he was highly impressed by Ward's display. "I thought Kenny would make it more difficult for him this time, but he made it look easy because he's so powerful. He hurt Kenny several times and clearly dominated the fight," said McGuigan. "He's a world class talent, no question about it. He just needs to keep fit. He came into last year's (national) seniors on the back of the world junior championships, so he had continuity. He needs to have continuity between now and the Olympic Games." McGuigan, who represented Ireland at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow before going on to a glittering professional boxing career, said it was important that Ward's training was at the highest level over the coming months. "He's going to go to Turkey because of his dominant performance (against Egan) but between now and then he needs to have more international training camps. He needs those camps to keep himself busy and keep sparring with top quality guys. "He's maybe lacking a bit of fitness and competition sharpness, but he's a superb talent and I have no doubt that he'll be among the medals this summer." In the aftermath of last Friday's contest Egan also predicted that Ward would become an Olympic star, saying: "I wish him the best of luck in the qualifiers, and if he qualifies I'm going to put a couple of grand on him to win a medal!"