AT AROUND MIDDAY before Kellie Harrington boxed for gold in Paris, her former Irish teammate Joe Ward posted a message to his Instagram story wishing her luck. It featured a photograph of three-time European champion Ward, Irish boxing’s head trainer Zaur Antia, and Harrington. Ward chose for its backing track ‘Simply The Best’ by Tina Turner.
Harrington on Tuesday night proved Ward’s point: she’s better than all the rest. Better than Ward himself, a six-time major international medallist. Better than her fellow Olympic boxing icons like Michael Carruth, Mick Conlan and John Joe Nevin.
And yes, in terms of barefaced boxing talent in the unpaid code, better than Katie Taylor. Consider that sacrilege if you like — but consider as well that in an all-time list, I would rank Taylor above virtually every other Irish sportsperson for both her longevity as a world-leading athlete and for her cultural impact outside the ring, where she has twice transformed her sport on a more profound level than anyone from this country has ever done their own. But strictly in the amateur ring, over the last six years, Kellie Harrington has become the best to ever do it from this country.
Taylor’s seminal London 2012 success was plainly hard-earned but it was only for the Olympic cycles that followed that several of boxing’s new powers began to pump money into their own female programmes. Olympic boxing is now an absolute dogfight for women just as it always has been for men. And Har.