Joe Ward going for gold against crafty Cuban

Joe Ward has already guaranteed himself a silver medal at the world boxing championships, but this evening (Thursday) he'll bid to upgrade the medal's colour to gold against Cuba's Julio La Cruz.

The Moate star's highly-anticipated final bout at the championships in Qatar takes place at around 6pm (Irish time).

It will be televised on RTE Two at 7pm.

Yesterday, Belfast's Michael Conlan became the first male Irish boxer ever to win a gold medal at the world championships and 21-year-old Ward will going all out to deliver another memorable success for the Irish.

He defeated Ukranian and Belarusian opponents before outpointing Uzbekistan's Elshod Rasulov in Monday's semi final.

His opponent today is a formidable operator, as Ward knows all too well.

Two years ago, the slick and fast-moving La Cruz defeated the Irish southpaw on points in that year's world championship semi final.

The 26-year-old Cuban went on to win gold at the 2013 world championships.

By winning the semi final on Monday, Ward guaranteed his place at next summer's Olympic Games in Rio.

He described his qualification for the games as 'a dream come true.'