Mike Keane, ABS National Coach, gives his perspective on the European Olympic Qualifying event held in Trazbon Turkey on 13-22 April 2012;
This was the most important event that I have witnessed in Amateur Boxing with 33 Nations and 196 Boxers (with only 26 places at stake) all looking to do the same thing – grab their place in the 2012 London Olympics.
Scotland had not enjoyed Olympic representation since 1992 so once again the pressure was on. Josh Taylor, Scotland’s sole representative in Turkey, was competing at 60kg after coming down from 64kg. This weight had already been filled by the World number one and G.B. Boxer Tom Stalker. There were 27 Boxers entered in the 60kg weight category making it the second highest suscribed category after the 81kg. With all the boxers attempting to reach the semi-finals to secure Olympic qualification, gaining a Team GB slot was always going to be a hugely difficult task for Josh.
These were the last Qualifiers for Boxers in Europe, which is one of the toughest continents to try and qualify for the Olympics. The draw was favourable for Josh as he managed to avoid the Turkish Boxer and would only box him if he reached the Final. He also managed to stay clear of the other G.B. Boxers, Sam Maxwell representing England, Joe Cordina representing Wales and wouldn’t meet them until the Final.
Josh’s first contest on Sunday 15th April 2012 was against Miroslav Serban from the Czech Republic. This was a great contest for Josh which he dominated from the first round, moving freely and landing all the telling blows. He had no problems with this contest and ran out a worthy winner by 15-6.
He now faced the Latvian Boxer – Artjoms Ramlavs – who had received a bye on Tuesday 17th April 2012. Josh continued where he left off against Miroslav Derban and again dominated the proceedings winning every round as his confidence soared. The score at the end of the contest was 14-4 in favour of Josh.
The next contest was against the tough Armenian Boxer Vladimir Sarukhanyan who had already disposed of his two previous opponents from Serbia and Greece respectively. I watched his two bouts with intent and knew that Josh would have to be at his best to get past him and secure his place at the 2012 Olympic Games.
The bout did not disappoint and was action packed from the first round. Josh was landing the long back hand and connecting with some decent body punches but the Armenian was not deterred by any of this and continued to push forward. This was a bout that both boxer simply had to win and it showed with the commitment from both. At the end of a close first round Josh had the upper hand with the score sitting at score of 4-2.
In round two, Josh took his foot off the gas a little and gave the Armenian some hope at the end of the round with the score was 8-5 still in favour of Josh. Sensing he could be heading out of the competition, Josh put in a tremendous last round throwing a wide range of punches and upped his work-rate the Armenian had no answer to the speed and accuracy of Josh’s last round surge for the ultimate prize Olympic Qualification.
It was obvious that he had done enough to win the contest but there was great tension as we still had to wait and get the official result which was 17-9. Josh had done it beating a very good Armenian who had taken a few notable scalps over the course of his career.
Joe Cordina of Wales lost his first contest in the Tournament against the very powerful Irish man David Joyce so there was a further wait and see if the English boxer Sam Maxwell could overcome his opponent, and if he did, gave us a few problems!! Sam had already beaten one of the tournament favourites Russian Albert Selimov R.S.C. 3 (Cut), then disposed of the Moldovian Piotr Apostol 20-10 on his way to his Quarter Final Bout against the Turkish Boxer Fatih Keles. If Sam was to win then it would mean he and Josh would have to box-off unless one of them went on to win the event.
Sam was up against it from the start with the crowd roaring on the local favourite he struggled to find his range early and fell behind in round one, then further behind in round two. Sam put up a great performance and gave his all til the very end but it was not to be. He lost the contest by 17-8 which was perhaps a bit closer than the score suggests, but nonetheless, Sam was out the Tournament which meant that Josh Taylor was going to the 2012 London Olympic Games.
Josh was still in the competition so there was no time for celebrating. He still had some work to do having to box against Vazgen Safaryants from Belarus in the Semi Final who had seen off boxers from Croatia, Bulgaria and Georgia on his way. This was a very close bout and Josh was perhaps a bit unfortunate to find himself behind for the first time in the entire Competition by one point at the end of the first. Round two saw the Referee inexplicably give Josh a public warning for holding! Although it perhaps merited a caution at worse the Belarus boxer could have had a warning for illegal use of the shoulder at the same time which is much more dangerous! This set back Josh as the round was a draw on the Judges scores but with the Public Warning Josh was now three points behind. The last round Josh showed much more urgency and I thought he had pulled the score back to it being level but the Judges scored it again a draw and the final score was 13-10.
This was to be Josh’s last involvement in the Competition, but can go away extremely happy with knowing he has got what he came for Qualification for the Olympic Games London 2012.
What an achievement for the young man from Prestonpans. I have seen Josh grow in stature since the start of his 6 month journey to the Commonwealth Games 2010 in India where he secured a Silver Medal. He then lost controversially in the Final of the G.B. Senior Championships 2011. He was introduced to the G.B. Development Squad in March 2011 and then progressed to the Podium Squad in January 2012
He is clearly reaping the benefits of full time training, World class facilities and World class sparring partners at the G.B. Set up. I wonder how many more of our talented boxers could progress if they had exposure to this type of thing?
Compared to our performance staffing quota of one, It is also very interesting to see a G.B Support Staff team of ten here in Turkey for the G.B. Team:- Team Manager Matt Holt, Performance Director Rob McCracken, Doctor Mike Loosemore, Nutritionist Mark Elisson, Physiotherapist Ian Gatt, Video Analysis Rob Gibson, Psychologist Pete Lyndsay and 3 coaches Paul Walmsley, Dave Alloway and Lee Pullen with the seven boxers:- 49kg Charlie Edwards, 60kg Josh Taylor/Joe Cordinas/ Sam Maxwell,75kg Anthony Aggogo, 81kg Callum Smith and 91kg Warren Baister.
Mike Keane, ABS National Coach
