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Boxer – Paddy Barnes
Belfast’s Paddy Barnes was the first Irish boxer to qualify for the Beijing Olympics following an emphatic win over Japan’s Kenji Ohkubo at the 2007 World Championships and Olympic qualifiers in Chicago.
A member of Holy Trinity Family Boxing Club in North Belfast, Paddy’s achievements in 2007 are certainly impressive. He won Gold in the Commonwealth Championships and Silver in the Multi-Nations Tournament.
Barnes first got into boxing at the age of 11 and hasn’t looked back since.
“A few of my friends were boxers, as were some of my cousins, so I went down to my local club one night and it started from there I had my first fight in my first few days of joining”.
The road to success has been a long one for Barnes, a journey that has needed commitment, dedication and above all a desire to keep going and never give up even when the going gets tough.
“When I am in the ring fighting and I hit my opponent with some good punches I just get an amazing feeling for the whole time that I am in the ring I focus on my opponent and I never let myself be distracted. I can’t remember my first win but I lost around my first 15 fights.
Even after losing his first 15 fights he still kept going with the desire to win spurring him on.
“The glory – that’s what motivates me and drives me to succeed in boxing. I am very competitive and always aim to be the best in my sport. When I look at the rankings it spurs me on to train harder and fight my best so I can one day hopefully make it to the top spot”.
For Barnes qualifying for the Beijing Olympics was a great feeling and he now has ambitions of winning a medal in Beijing.
“I was competing at the World Senior Championships, the first qualifying tournament for the Olympics, and I had to reach the last eight to qualify, with 46 boxers at my weight there was great competition but I fought the fight and won my first three fights which meant I was through! It was a great feeling and sense of achievement just to qualify. The challenge now is to represent Ireland and come home with a medal”.
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