TWO Irish boxers will qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio if they win their next two fights.
Light-heavyweight Joe Ward will face France’s Mathieu Bauderlique in a scheduled eight-round AIBA Pro Boxing (APB) bout in early June.
Lightweight David Oliver Joyce will step into the ring against Uzbekistan’s Hurshid Tojibaev for eight APB rounds on the final weekend of May.
If Ward wins in June he will fight either Bulgaria’s Spas Genov or Mauritius’ Kennedy St Pierre in July for the Olympic spot.
Joyce will take on either Brazil’s Robson Conceica or Russia’s Dmitry Polyansky in the same month for the chance to head to Rio if he beats Tojibeav.
Rio 2016 will be the first time that pro boxers will compete at the Olympics, with twenty pro fighters qualifying directly through APB.
