Ireland’s first major international heavyweight medallist in 76 years, the 20-year-old Jack Marley, can make a dent at next summer’s Olympics.
IT’S JUST GONE four o’clock in the afternoon on 30 June. Jack Marley plonks himself on a stool in the red corner of the ring at the Nowy Targ Arena, about an hour and a quarter south of Krakow, Poland.
Trailing on four of the five cards, the distinct likelihood is that Marley will have to try again in the first half of 2024, when the final calls for Paris will sound from a couple of unpredictable global qualifying events. When it came to trying to qualify for the Olympics from those European Games, I had always just thought to myself, ‘I don’t wanna have to go through this again,” d’you know what I mean? Yeah, you might get another chance next year. But it was, ‘I’m here now: I might as well give it socks, like!’ “And the thing is I knew after being in there with him for the first three minutes that I’d already started to chip away at him. I felt, slowly but surely, I was breaking him down.
“Like, after I’d won the semi-final and qualified for Paris, people would ask me, ‘Oh, were you nervous ahead of that fight?’ But if you think about it, that semi-final was no more a ‘qualifying’ fight than the fights beforehand; sure if I’d lost one of those earlier fights, I was out.” Their initial clash in Yerevan, Armenia, in May 2022 — Marley’s first ever international bout at the highest level — had ended in excruciating circumstances in two ways.
One judge saw it for Marley, 20-18. Another saw it for Nanitzanian, 20-18. Three had it level, 19 apiece. “Ah, look, obviously, in the back of my mind, I wanted to get him back, like,” Marley says of Nanitzanian.Wary of Nanitzanian’s propensity for throwing his noggin around, Marley dropped a relatively cagey opening verse.
It was plainer sailing in his European Games quarter, where Marley defeated former six-time Croatian amateur champion Marko Calic, who also boasts a 14-1 record in boxing’s paid ranks.
Malaysia Latest News, Malaysia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Ireland learn qualification opponents for Paris OlympicsMen’s and women’s hockey sides face stiff competition in Valencia in January.
Read more »
Paris 2024 · The 42The latest Irish and international sports news from The 42
Read more »
From Wicklow, to Toulouse, and bee tattoos: Lucy Mulhall’s journey to the Paris OlympicsAfter 10 seasons chasing Olympic qualification a summer date in Paris awaits
Read more »
‘Google says my net worth is €22.5m but I’m not quite sure which bank account that’s in’Me & My Money: Leah Barniville, singer/performer
Read more »
Death of Jason Corbett’s first wife put under the microscope as her children look on in courtThe ghosts of their parents are everywhere in this trial for Jack and Sarah, but neither will rest until the truth outs
Read more »