The people have spoken.
Thousands of votes have been cast and we now have our Irish-Boxing.com Awards winners for 2023.
In ten categories and forty-nine nominees, the best of Irish boxing is recognized after 12 brilliant months.
So without further ado…
Fighter of the year – Katie Taylor The living legend brought boxing great back to Dublin and overturned her loss to Chantelle Cameron to become undisputed two-weight world champion. Never discard it! In second place was the resurgent TJ Doheny.
Prospect of the year – Tommy HydeSix rounds saw the Cork super middleweight rise through the ranks, quickly establishing himself as a national contender and bringing regular boxing back to Cork. In this vote he defeated a potential future rival, Joe Ward.
Amateur Boxer of the Year – Jack Marley The Dubliner ended Ireland’s long wait for a heavyweight medal with silver at the European Games, earning a place at the Paris Olympics in the process. In second place was Kelyn Cassidy.
Young Fan of the Year – Ella Archbold The Dublin dynamo dominated the field in Slovenia, winning four bouts to top the podium and overtake fellow European Schools gold medalist Louise Joyce.
Fight of the year – Katie Taylor vs. Chantelle Cameron 2Katie Taylor doing Katie Taylor things.
National fight of the year – Jamie Morrissey vs. Kevin Cronin 2Ahead of the Belfast battle between Lewis Crocker and Tyrone McKenna, this epic rematch for the Irish title lit up the Conlan Boxing Galway show. Surely this means we have to have a trilogy fight now?
performance of the year – Conor Quinn (vs. Chris Liddell) A systematic destruction, the Belfast fly claimed the first two titles of his career with a dominant display, stopping the tough Scot in the seventh and moving ahead of Sean McComb to beat Sam Maxwell in this vote.
KO of the year – Kieran Molloy (vs. Sam O’maison) Boom!
Coach of the year – Dee Walsh Another unbeaten year for the Belfast guru saw him corner Colm Murphy and Conor Quinn in Irish and Celtic title fights respectively, as well as a Féile title win for Padraig McCrory. Winning this award for the third year in a row, Walsh finished ahead of Andy Lee.
Professional debut of the year – Shauna O’Keeffe Straight into the deep end, the Tipperary super featherweight outclassed Vaida Masiokaite in a six-round bout to take this award ahead of youngster Matthew Tyndall.
