Ahead of tonight’s elite National Boxing Championship finals, middleweight champion Darren O’Neill has been given a walkover by his opponent, Conor Coyle. The Derry middleweight has been forced to withdraw because of an injury to his left hand. O’Neill, who has already qualified for London 2012, has now won four Irish Elite titles in-a-row. Coyle’s coach Cahir Duffy admitted that the talented Derry prospect was devastated: “Conor has had a fine Championships and he was very much looking forward to final. He’s devastated because of the injury and everyone at the club is very disappointed that he won’t be meeting Darren O’Neill tonight. The main thing is that he has proven at these Championships that he deserves to be up there with the Elites.”
Darren O'Neill has now won four consecutive national titles ©INPHO
