The full article is a decent read. Best of luck to him, to be honest, its a great gig I’d say. If the Irish boxers continue to perform as they are, there should be some good fallout post Games.
Its turned to shit as it is by all accounts. Fall out never stopped
No medals given out yet.
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No. But that does not meam the whole is not a farce in any case
We’ll wait and see. signs arent good yet, but we’ll see.
Be some crack if a yank stops Katie. Is there in her draw?
Also doesn’t look good that the head of Irish Boxing was coaching a drug cheat.
There is nothing to wait for. The IABA made an absolute balls of things. They had one of the best coaches in the world and they let him go.
Reilly would either have been fucked out or cajoled into doing the right thing had Walsh been there. That was one of his skills.
Any success even still would largely go down to the individuals and what Walsh, Keegan and his team did over the past 11 years up to last.
The drugs came from someone outside of the camp.
Could easily have Billy Walsh as it was anyone involved with the IABA.
You’re taking the word of a drug cheat for that however
Mikaela Mayer is fighting in the same division as Katie Taylor. Word on the street in Wexford town is that Coach Walsh has her primed to take a medal. I’m hearing reports that the Irish Sports Council are trying to tempt him back to Ireland.
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Billy’s bitch will take taylor down alright
Isn’t Katie the greatest athlete the world ever produced?
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I wouldn’t agree with that mate
Isn’t she nationally acknowledged as our greatest ever athlete?
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No mate, that is generally considered to be Mitchie De Bruin B. L.
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Never heard of him
The one with the hairy bollox
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The Yanks have their first medal. The recriminations can begin.
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No mate Martin Sheridan is our greatest ever Olympic athlete
RIO DE JANEIRO — The new coach of USA Boxing still is learning English, the program’s executive director reported with a grin.
“He speaks Irish,’’ Mike Martino told USA TODAY Sports. “The (boxers) go, ‘What did he say?’’’
The coach’s name is Billy Walsh, he used to run Ireland’s Olympic boxing program and, despite his thick brogue, it was very clear what he said Wednesday night.
“First medal, baby,’’ Walsh exclaimed. “Whoo-hoo!”
American Nico Hernandez had just advanced to the semifinal round in the light flyweight division with a victory over Ecuador’s Carlos Eduardo Quipo Palaxti. That assured the U.S. men’s team would win at least a bronze medal here, and celebrating that fact might seem absurd given the USA has won more boxing medals than any other country — yes, even you, Cuba — and has featured the likes of Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard and Evander Holyfield.
MORE: Nico Hernandez clinches spot on the podium
But none of that mattered at the 2012 London Games, where the once-proud U.S. men’s boxing program failed to win a medal for the first time in Olympic history. USA Boxing, promptly ending its tradition of using volunteer coaches, introduced an international import program. Imported coaches.
A month after the London debacle, USA Boxing hired Pedro Roque Otano, the highly successful Cuban national coach. The was supposed to pay off at these Rio Olympics.
But in 2014, shortly after Martino took over as USA Boxing’s executive director, the Cuban coach announced he was leaving to take over Azerbaijan’s national program. So Martino insists he considered American candidates. But from the outset, the guy with the thick brogue appeared a cinch for the job.
The United States Olympic Committee (USOC), using its leverage as one of USA Boxing’s biggest funders, pushed for the hiring of Walsh. In fact, the USOC pays Walsh’s salary.
“It was a tough decision for us because USA coaches and membership felt it was a slap in the face a little bit (to hire another non-American),” John Brown, president of USA Boxing, said. “But we were able to convince them that Billy was a coach with credentials and that the USOC was paying for it, so it wasn’t going to cost us anything. … And once we all met Billy and sat down and we got to know him and his philosophy, we all felt very good about him.’’
MORE: Full coverage of 2016 Rio Olympics
All they had to do is convince one person — Walsh.
Over the years, he grew perplexed by USA Boxing’s business model included volunteer coaches.
“If the U.S. were going to keep going to keep doing the same thing, they were going to keep looking at the same results,’’ he said. “They had become a battering ram for other countries. Nobody feared them anymore.’’
But Walsh also said he considered USA Boxing a sleeping giant, and in January he started full time, officially as the women’s head coach and unofficially as the men’s head coach. He is expected to be named head coach of both teams, after the Olympics .
“I know it sounds strange’’ and Brown, president of USA Boxing. “But it’s boxing, you know?’’
With his signature brogue, Walsh has implored the boxers to give up their brawling ways and instead to feint, stay on the move and use other techniques designed to capitalize on Olympic-style judging.
“It’s something totally different to what the American boxers are taught in the U.S.,’’ Augie Sanchez, an assistant coach for USA Boxing, said. “It was a tough transition for these boxers to make.’’
If Hernandez is any evidence, the transition is successfully underway. On Monday, Hernandez upset Russia’s Vasilii Egorov, seeded No. 2 in the light flyweight division. And on Wednesday, Hernandez won again while feinting and keeping his distance from a smaller opponent.
“I listened to my coaches, what they had to say,’’ said Hernandez said, who is guaranteed at least a bronze, awarded to the loser of each of the two semifinal bouts. “I”m not going to focus on the bronze medal right now. I won’t be satisfied until I get the gold medal.’’
Gold or bust — reminiscent of the swagger from 1976, when Sugar Ray Leonard and the Spinks brothers led a team that won five Olympic gold medals at the Montreal Games. But Martino, USA Boxing’s executive director, said those days may be gone forever in part because of some of the well-funded breakaway Baltic states.
“It’s a different game now,’’ Martino said. “Boxing worldwide has picked up in skill set.’’
And so in search of a capable coach, abroad USA Boxing went again, in attempt to reconquer the world.
(Photo: Billy Walsh yells during the middleweight competition at the Rio Olympics. Credit: AP)