Joe Ward (Photo: Ann Hennessy)

Joe Ward has his eyes on the biggest prize of all

Some people hate getting their photo taken. Joe Ward isn’t one of them.

At his home in Moate, photographer Ann Hennessy is taking pictures of him on his own and with his two young sons. She’s snapping him inside the house and outdoors.

As he examines her photos the boxer pauses for a second, then says: “I don’t know if it’s your camera, or the light, or what it is, but I’m looking fierce good in all those pictures!”

It’s a line of which Muhammad Ali would have been proud.

Self-confidence is a topic that comes up a lot in conversation with Joe. It’s an attribute that helped propel his journey to the Olympic Games in Rio this summer.

“I never lacked confidence, even as a young lad,” he comments. “It’s got me a long way in life and especially in boxing. Sometimes you’ve got to be confident in boxing because it can be a lonely sport.”

There are now less than 100 days to go until the opening ceremony of the Olympics on August 5.

Joe realised a dream by securing his place on the plane there last October. He and his cousin from Mullingar, David Oliver Joyce, are among the six Irish boxers who have qualified to date.

Sporting occasions don’t come any bigger than the Olympic Games, but Joe (22) says he won’t be daunted by the size and scale of the event.

“I’m going to go there and enjoy it. I’m going to take it all in, when I’m there, and then I’m going to focus on my job and what I have to do,” he says.

“The ring is going to be no bigger, the gloves are going to be no bigger. It’s going to be the same as it has been in previous World and European championships. The opponents probably won’t change. I feel like it won’t be a massive change for me.”

It’s worth taking a look back at where the light heavyweight’s remarkable story began. Joe was seven years old when he started out in Moate Boxing Club. It didn’t take long for coach Seamus Dorrington to spot his potential.

“Seamus always thought I was the 'special one’ in the boxing club,” he smiles. “He would give a bit more attention to me, and the other boys would be getting jealous!

“Seamus brought me so far, from the age of seven up until he retired in 2010. He was a great coach and a very easy man to get on with. He understood a lot of things. He would push you to reach your level, without roaring and shouting about it.”

The Farnagh native won his first Irish national title at the age of eleven and, to date, he is unbeaten on Irish soil.

“I won all my national titles every year. I grew, got more confident, and started getting recognised as I was getting older. When you start getting recognised it’s very hard for someone to beat you because your confidence is so high. The judges are expecting you to win because you have the record.”

He has vivid memories of his first-ever setback in boxing – a defeat in the final of a European schoolboys’ tournament in Portsmouth, England. He was 13 years old.

“I was just shocked, and very disappointed. I took it so personal when I lost. I held it with me for a long, long time. I used to sometimes break down and cry. I just couldn’t believe that someone was better than me!

“I was so used to winning (that I had) started to feel untouchable. But sometimes that’s a good thing, to lose. It 'resets’ you back to realising that you’re good but you need to work on certain things to be better. You realise everything is not perfect.”

As Joe progressed through his teenage years he earned a string of international titles, including world championships at junior and youth level.

Then early in 2011, having turned 17 a couple of months earlier, he challenged Kenny Egan for the Irish senior title. Egan had won silver at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and many analysts thought he would have too much experience for the teenager from Moate.

“People thought that it was maybe a bit too soon for me (to box him), but I made the decision myself – it wasn’t my coaches or anyone else. I felt I was ready for it. I felt it was my opportunity to take him on and beat him,” he says.

“I respected him but I didn’t fear him, and that’s the way it is with all my opponents. I respect them as boxers but I don’t fear anyone. I know when I get in there I’m a very difficult lad to beat.”

Joe duly defeated Egan that night and went on to win two further national finals against him in subsequent years. In the summer of 2011, he won gold at his first-ever European senior championships.

He appeared to be on an unstoppable course toward the Olympic Games in London, but then hit a major stumbling block. Two very disappointing defeats meant he failed to qualify for the Games.

Looking back, he admits he “took things for granted a little bit” heading into those qualifiers. As a result, he ended up watching the 2012 Games at home on television.

“I was glad to see the Irish lads doing so well in London, because we’re all team-mates, but I was at home watching people I had previously beaten go on to win medals and become Olympic champions.

“That was very, very disappointing, especially when I knew I was good enough to be there and should have been there. But I kind of made up for it in the long run. It made me more focused and more determined not to make the same mistake again.”

In May of 2013 there was a bizarre setback when he sustained a knee injury in the final seconds of a bout he was winning at the European championships in Bulgaria. 

“I was cruising along in the last round - 15 seconds to go - and there’s this freak accident. Whatever way I punched, and twisted my knee, the knee popped out of its socket,” he says.

“I can honestly say I wasn’t in a lot of pain because I was in a fight and the adrenaline was pumping. There was a doctor who was very quick off the mark. He jumped straight in (to the ring) and popped the knee back in. You could hear the bones cracking back into place.”

He was on crutches for a time afterwards but managed to return for the world championships in October of that year, coming home with a bronze medal after a defeat to Cuba’s Julio César La Cruz in the semi final.

Joe had a number of bouts in the quasi-professional World Series of Boxing (WSB) before winning his second gold medal at the European senior championships last August.

He then went in to the World Championships in Qatar in October knowing that, if he reached the final, Olympic qualification would be his.

“I knew it would be very tough to qualify because there was only one Irish boxer who had reached a (world senior men’s) final before that, and that was Jason Quigley (in 2013). Thankfully, everything went to plan. I had a lot of good wins and good performances.”

In the semi-final, he defeated Elshod Rasulov, an opponent he describes as “a really tough, experienced Uzbekistan boxer who had already boxed in the London Olympics and won three or four world senior medals”.

“To beat him was a very good achievement for me. It was great because there was so much at stake with the Olympic spot. Getting to that final and qualifying was everything for me – it was a dream come true.”

Having secured qualification, Joe took home a silver medal after a second defeat to the aforementioned Cruz in the final. The Cuban is an extremely slick and skilful operator, but Joe believes he can beat him in Rio.

“(Cruz) is very good. His record proves how good he is. But I feel that I’ve improved each time we met, and in Rio it’s time to pass him out.

“I’m more mature now, I’m going to be ready, and there’s going to be no bigger fight than me and him in the Olympic final, hopefully. I feel that I’m going to be the man to beat him. He had his time. Now it’s my time to take over.”

Viewers might notice some changes when watching boxing at this year’s Olympics. Unlike in London, headguards won’t be used, and a professional-style scoring system will be in place with 10 points for the winner of each round and 9 points usually awarded to the loser of the round.

Joe says boxing without a headguard has not been a problem for him to date.

“I find it good because I haven’t got any cuts yet - I’m still as pretty as ever! It’s good for TV, because people can recognise you a bit more without the headguard. I’m able to adapt to all of that. I don’t worry too much about what I can’t control.”

In April, he and the other Irish boxers took part in a training camp in Assisi, Italy. Further camps are planned in Dublin in the coming weeks, with boxers from India and Kazakhstan also taking part.

“The preparation has been going well. Hopefully I’ll be able to use (the training camps) to my advantage and keep away from any injuries.”

One of Joe’s perceived weaknesses over the years was the sense that he hasn’t always trained as hard as he could. What does he say to people who make that claim?

“I’d say, well then they don’t know me!” he replies.

“Nobody knows what we do behind closed doors in the gym. I train very hard. As you get older, you get a bit more mature and you do a bit more than you did when you were younger. As a young lad I always had talent and - I agree - sometimes you did expect that your talent would take you so far.

“But you have to put the hard work in and that’s what I’ve done. I wouldn’t have achieved what I have achieved if I wasn’t putting in the work.”

His family won’t be heading to the Olympics, instead they’ll be cheering him on at home. When asked about his target for the Games, Joe replies without hesitation.

“I’m going there to be Olympic champion and I feel like I’m capable of doing that. I have the ability to do it. 

“At the end of the day, all I can do is prepare myself mentally and physically and go there to give it my best shot. But I know I’m good enough to be Olympic champion. If all goes well, I’ll be there or thereabouts at the end of it,” Joe adds.