Boxer Joel into Irish semi-finals

The All Saints boxer moved into the semi-finals of the featherweight division by stopping highly-fancied opponent Alan O’Connor in Friday’s quarter-final.

“It was another good performance from Joel against a very good stand-up boxer,” All Saints coach Gerry Hamill told Times Sport. “We knew that Joel had to get underneath his left hand and we worked on it in training.

“Joel was 2-1 behind after the first round, and in the second round, O’Connor was warned three times for holding, so we knew Joel was starting to get at him – but Joel was still 6-4 down at the end of the second, so we knew he had to do something big to pull it out of the fire.

“Joel had actually got ahead in the contest in the third round and then with about a minute to go, Joel caught him with a smashing right hand to the body. O’Connor was in no fit state to continue, and the referee stopped the contest.

“Joel’s fitness has let him down on occasions before, but it wasn’t a problem this time, and he’s really feeling the benefit of four tough contests in the last month,” added Gerry.