Punching Above their Weight

The Irish Olympic Boxing Story

Ireland’s amateur boxing story is one of blood, sweat and tears – and not just in the ring.

Ireland is one of the world’s leading nations in the sport. This is the inside story of a great tradition – a story of physical prowess, gritty determination, devastating defeats, sheer bad luck, infamous ‘he was robbed’ judging decisions, and the ultimate goal of Olympic glory.

The boxers’ lives play out against a backdrop of the economic woes of the 1950s, the Northern Ireland Troubles, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the break-up of the Soviet Union.

Sean McGoldrick shines a spotlight on Ireland’s ‘Medal Factory’, the sometimes-contentious High Performance Unit, which has nurtured Irish boxers on the road to winning seven Olympic medals.

Punching Above Their Weight captures the rollercoaster ride of such legendary boxers and coaches as John McNally, Fred Tiedt, Barry McGuigan, Hugh Russell, Billy Walsh, Michael Carruth, Zaur Antia, Wayne McCullough, Paddy Barnes, Kenny Egan, Darren Sutherland, John Joe Nevin, and Katie Taylor, among many others.

A countback of over seventy years of Ireland’s ‘sweet science’.