Two gold medals and a bronze in the European Championships in Bulgaria cemented Billy Walsh's reputation as one of the greatest sporting coaches Ireland has ever produced. Michael Conlan and Joe Ward became continental champions with Billy's nephew Dean Walsh winning a bronze medal after being defeated in his semi finals.
The upcoming World Championships also add as an Olympic qualifier and Billy to Oisin Langan on the Rewind Podcast that the majority of Ireland's Olympic boxers will qualify in specific qualification tournaments next year. Despite already having his place booked on the plane to Rio through the WSB, Michael Conlan plans to go to the World Championships to win a medal, with Ward and Walsh travelling to Doha.
Despite the three medals, Billy Walsh added that losses to Darren O'Neill and Adam Nolan (who defeated the Number One seed) were among the disappointments of the tournament.
Walsh, who is the head coach of would love to see Ireland host a major event in the coming years, to give the fans an opportunity to see the boxers in international competition up close. He told Oisin that the tournaments can count as qualification events for the major events and he hope to see the IABA bid for some events before Tokyo 2020.
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