Irish boxing has not exactly wanted for negativity and controversy in the last year. The leaving of Billy Walsh to the cleaving of the IABA boardroom bracket other great calamities: a slice in funding after an Olympics which yielded no medals, one failed drugs test, and two middle-fingers to just about everybody at the AIBA.
But the good news is there, too, if we choose to look at it. Last month, Joe Ward returned home with his third European gold medal. Another to hang on the mantelpiece, along with two medals from previous World Championships. It's a pretty remarkable quintet of medals for any boxer, let alone for a man who won't be 24 until October.
A remarkable achievement, yet there was very little coverage: instead, papers and websites were flooded about someone hitting out at what Jim Gavin had said about what Pat Spillane had said about Diarmuid Connolly.
To remedy such an absence of acclaim, Eric Donovan launched a Twitter campaign:
Gonna make Joe Ward my profile picture for 1 week. Give him his recognition 3x European champion only 23 years old, phenomenal. #profilejoe
— Eric Lilywhite Lightning Donovan (@ericdonovanbox) June 27, 2017
Ward hasn't waded into Twitter, but was aware of the campaign. As for the wider lack of recognition of his achievements, Ward bats it away as something over which he has no control. Nor can he control the slight feeling of injustice that it left him with:
Look, we have to focus on what we can do ourselves. We have to focus on performance, and doing what we can when we are in there. Everything else is out of our control.
To win a third European title is something special. I'm the first Irish person to do that, so maybe it deserved a bit more coverage. But that is out of our control.
Ward has wasted little time in making Europe a fiefdom: previous performances meant that the most recent gold was the outcome he expected. He is now targeting one of the few prizes to elude him thus far: a World Championship gold, which he will fight for in Hamburg in August. The portents are good: in 2013 he won bronze, and two years ago he stepped up to silver, meaning another shift up the podium may be on the cards.
Regardless of the outcome in Germany, however, Ward has handed Irish amateur boxing a huge lift by committing to the high-performance unit through to the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. He has been inundated with offers to turn professional, and Sport Ireland have strayed against convention to guarantee his funding until then.
There are a couple of magnets drawing him to Tokyo. He speaks enthusiastically about the appointment of Bernard Dunne, whose "vision" he endorses. Another is the sheer privilege of being Irish captain.
Ever since Bernard came in, it's been really, really positive. The team is in a good place. If we continue to do the right things, which we have been doing, we can be a very powerful nation in Tokyo. I've been selected as Irish captain, and it's a huge honour, it means a lot to me.
It's a special feeling, and an honour. Especially boxing, which has been very sucessful over the last number of years. We've had our ups and downs, but it's great to get the nod, and have the opportunity to give the new lads some inspiration, and show them what they can achieve.
I'm a very experienced person, I've boxed at a lot of championships. They look up to me for what I've achieved, and I'm proving what I can bring to this team.
It may not be long before the entire country will follow suit, and then we will all be looking up to Joe Ward.
See Also: "I'm Due A Good Break" -Sean McComb On Losing Funding, Battling Back, And Stopping Crime
See Also: Kellie Harrington On Making Up For Lost Time, Olympic Dreams, And Working To "Feel Normal"
