[caption id="attachment_69592" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Olympic silver medalist Ken Egan, of Neilstown in blue comes under pressure from Joe Ward of Moate during their light-heavyweight bout at the National Stadium in Dublin."]
KENNY EGAN, the Olympic silver medalist from Beijing, will not be going to the 2012 event in London this summer after losing to teenager Joe Ward in the Irish light heavyweight final.
The 18-year-old Ward proved much too strong for the 30-year-old Egan at a packed National Stadum, winning by 29-10. An astonishing margin given Egan's record.
When Ward scored an upset victory over Egan in last year's national championship, it was argued that the Olympic silver medalist wasn't properly prepared. This time around, it was felt that he was in far better shape.
But he could do little against the strength and punching power of Ward. Egan had to take a standing count in the second round and by the third round had little to offer.
To Egan's credit, however, he paid tribute to his talented young Moate opponent. He said: "The best of luck to him [Ward] in the qualifiers. If he qualifies, I'm going to put a couple of grand on him to win a medal."
