OLYMPICS / Barcelona 1992: Boxing: Irish eyes on boxing golds

IRELAND have two chances of winning their first Olympic boxing gold medal in history, with both Wayne McCullough and Michael Carruth winning their semi- finals yesterday.

McCullough was first up, in the bantamweights, where he and the North Korean Gwang Li staged three rounds of non-stop aggressive action, which the 22-year-old from Belfast won 21-16.

Gwang, who beat the world champion, Serafim Todorov, in the previous round, did not go easily. McCullough said facing him had been 'like fighting against a wall'.

McCullough, the Commonwealth champion, now faces one of the all-conquering Cubans, Joel Casamayor, in the final.

Carruth will also take on a Cuban, the world welterweight champion, Juan Hernandez, in his final after beating Thailand's Arkom Chenglai 11-4. It was an altogether quieter ride for the 25- year-old Dubliner, whose father, Austin, is the team's assistant coach.

But it is the identity of the chief coach which may be Ireland's secret weapon. He is Nicholas Hernandez Cruz, and he comes from Cuba, the best amateur boxing nation in the world.

Ireland have won only two boxing medals in history. John McNally won the batanmweight silver in Helsinki in 1952 and Fred Teidt the welterweight silver in Melbourne four years later.

The rest of the semi-finals saw a largely uninterrupted Cuban march, led by their phenomenal heavyweight champion, Felix Savon, who cruised through 23-3 against Arnold van der Lijde, of the Netherlands.