The Billy Walsh saga has taken on extraordinary twists and turns in the last week, as the former Irish head coach of boxing stepped down from his role to travel to America to take up a new role with the United States Olympic Committee.
According to the Irish Times, a lot of the blame of why Walsh has left is down to the IABA reneging on an agreement with the Sports Council over Walsh's contract.
There was an agreement in place with all parties that was worth at least €95,000 with bonuses before the offer was withdrawn. It is believed that Walsh was happy to sign up to what was agreed - despite the existing offer from the USOC already being on the table and being worth up to double what the IABA had in front of him.
Malachy Clerkin reports that, Walsh was seeking a formalisation of his role from "head coach" to the leader of the high performance unit - which he had already been running since Gary Keegan left after the Beijing Olympics.
But the IABA came back several days later, and informed the Sport Council that they had chosen not to bring the agreement to board level.
The agreement had shown that the Sports Council would provide the funding for Walsh's salary - but the agreement would have seen a shake up of the governance of the IABA. But in the four days between their meeting on August 20th and the IABA informing the Sports Council on August 24th, the IABA changed their minds.
The IABA are yet to explain why they have reneged on their promises - but it is expected that they will at some point today.
See Also: We Now Have The Most Damning Allegation From The Entire Billy Walsh Affair
Picture credit: Stephen McCarthy / SPORTSFILE
