Bereavement prompted Joe Ward’s boxing fundraiser tonight

European champion Joe Ward has organised a fundraising boxing tournament which will take place this Friday night and will benefit Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin.
The event, which is being held in Club S, on Moate’s Main Street, is due to feature ten bouts involving members of Moate Boxing Club.
Joe (19) is hoping to box on the night - in either a competitive bout or an exhibition - but at the time of writing an opponent to face him had not yet been secured.
Speaking on Monday afternoon, he said numerous phonecalls were being made in a bid to line up an opponent and, while he couldn’t make any promises, he was hopeful that he would be lacing the gloves for what would be his first-ever contest in his home town.
Joe came up with the idea of organising the fundraiser after the passing of his two-year-old cousin, Rosaleen Joyce, last year.
“My cousin was in the children’s hospital for over a year and they looked after her very well up there, so we just wanted to try and give something back,” he explained.
“Anything that can help would be great, and the local businesses in Moate have been very supportive in giving us spot prizes for the night.
“It’s a long time since there’s been a boxing tournament held in Moate, so it’s exciting for myself and the other lads who train in Moate Boxing Club to go out there and box in front of the local public. Hopefully there will be a good turnout and it will be a good night.”
Ten contests have been arranged and Moate boxing club members Trevor Murtagh, Kenneth Okungbowa, Neal Rattigan, Mohammad Elamin and Rochard Lomas are among those due to box on the night.
The next major tournament on Joe Ward’s horizon is the European amateur championships which take place in Belarus in late May.
Joe and the other members of the Irish Elite boxing squad, including Mullingar’s John Joe Nevin, recently stepped up their preparations for the Europeans by taking part in a two-week training camp in Kazakhstan.
“The preparations are going well,” Joe said. “I’m just trying to knuckle down now, keep boxing as much as possible, and hopefully go out there and retain my European title. I know that if I’m 100% ready, and I box to the best of my ability, I will be hard to beat.”
At the camp in Kazakhstan, Joe sparred with London 2012 Olympic silver medallist Adilet Niyazimbetov.
Commenting on the sparring session, Irish coach Billy Walsh said: “It was a very technical spar, lots of feinting and counter-punching, and I was happy with his performances against such an experienced opponent.”
The World Amateur Boxing Championships will take place in Azerbaijan in October. Significantly, headguards will not be used at this year’s world championships. Joe has recent experience of boxing without a vest and headguard in World Series of Boxing (WSB) contests.
When asked if he had a preference for wearing a headguard or not, he replied: “I enjoyed boxing without the headguard because you have a better view without it, but it really makes no difference to me. Whatever system they bring in, you just have to adapt to it.”