Gallagher seals title on senior Ireland debut

JUDE Gallagher ensured a senior Ireland debut to remember over the weekend when he won the 57kg title at the Eindhoven Box Cup.

Having been a mainstay of the underage Irish ranks for many years, Covid-19 put a stop to Gallagher making his senior competitive bow until now and he made sure to make up for lost time with two impressive wins in Holland.

At the semi-final stage, the Newtownstewart man brushed aside Italy’s Ali Youssef before he went toe-to-toe with Netherlands’ Kervens Boom in the decider.

Although the final encounter wasn’t quite as comfortable for the Two Castles club man, he sealed a unanimous decision on the judges’ cards to take the title and boost his confidence ahead of this summer’s Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

And the 20-year-old was pleased with how his preparations are going so far, particularly his performances in Eindhoven.
“The semi-final was comfortable, I dropped him in the first round – I gave him two counts in the first round – and then I won the next two rounds fairly comfortably too,” he said.

“The final was a bit tougher but I won it fairly comfortably too. I boxed well, but he was a game wee lad, so I stuck to my boxing and boxed on the back foot, picking him off.

“Overall I performed very well, produced some good boxing and felt very sharp.

“Those were good fights to get in the run up to [the Commonwealth Games] because it’s important I stay ring sharp. You can do all the training and sparring you want but if you don’t get that ring time it’s just not the same and to get that against international class opposition makes a big difference.”

Jude won’t be resting on his laurels for long after his latest success as yesterday [Thursday] he travels back to Dublin before flying to Italy this morning where he has a fight tomorrow night.