Paulstown boxer Darren O’Neill along with Ken Egan and Tyrone McCullagh qualified for the European semi-finals and will now have the chance to box tonight (Friday ) for gold or silver following their sensational wins at the Ice Palace in Moscow on Tuesday afternoon.
The fight of the tournament featured O'Neill who fought against Sergey Derevyanchenko of Ukraine.
Derevyanchenko was a bronze medalist at the 2007 World Championships in Chicago and is now considered one of the best middleweights in the world.
The bout was full on and bloody, with the Ukrainian chasing O'Neill from the start. But O'Neill who has become a real force in the boxing world was his usual focussed and controlled self displaying excellent defending. When the time was right O’Neill picked his shots with great timing and accuracy. It was level at three-three after round two of four, and the two middleweights went point for point until, with less than 20 seconds to go, the score was even at six all.
The Dublin-based school teacher then took his chance, stepping in and scoring on the buzzer to win 7-6. O’Neill was bruised and bleeding but he now has the coveted medal he has always wanted.Speaking to the Kilkenny Advertiser from Moscow. he said “It’s unbelievable, words cannot describe how I feel - relief, ecstasy and a great sense of pride, all mixed together.”
Darren has been training non stop for this fight and is now thankful it has all paid off,.
“I’ve put torturous hours into this, literally spilling blood, sweat and even tears to get here and now that I have it’s a matter of taking it all in.” Darren’s training goes back years and this moment has been on the cards for a long time, “Every minute I have put into for the last 15 years was called on today (Tuesday ) and I’m still just coming down to earth. I’m just so happy not just for me but for my entire family, they’ve supported me in every moment of my career,” said a very happy but exhausted Darren. The winners will now fight in the semi-finals on tonight (Friday, June 11 ).
