Martin McDonagh produces coming of age performance to reach last eight at Olympic qualifier

In only his nineteenth fight at elite level the 22-year-old ultimately overwhelmed his Bulgarian opponent Peter Rumenov Belberov to come within one win of securing an Olympic spot.

But he faces another huge challenge in Sunday’s quota fight against 2021 world silver medallist Davit Chaloyan from Armenia. But McDonagh is not fazed by the reputation of any opponent despite being a novice at international level.

McDonagh was only nine when Belberov featured in the 2011 World championships in Baku.

But his lack of experience didn’t hinder him from taking the contest to his opponent. He used his height advantage to telling effect and in a terrific contest landed the better shots and secured the first round on all five judges’ cards.

The Bulgarian upped his work rate and tempo in the second and in the early stages found his range and the referee looked on the brink of penalizing McDonagh for dropping his head.

He escaped but the referee seemed determined to make a statement and when she finally intervened it was the Bulgarian she harshly penalized.

McDonagh won the round on three of the judges’ card which meant he had a three-point advantage due to Belberov being deducted a point on their cards going into the final stanza while it was level on the other two.

Effectively the Bulgarian needed a knock-out to turn the contest around. The action was fast and furious but it was McDonagh who came closest to ending the fight inside the distance.

His superior hand speed enabled him to land a flurry of shots to his opponent’s head which obliged the referee to give the Bulgarian a standing count.

Two of the judges scored the last round 10-8 in favour of McDonagh as he romped to a unanimous 5-0 success on scorecards of 30-25, 30-26, 29-27, 29-26, 30-26.

Regardless of whether he makes the Olympics, McDonagh’s journey has been remarkable. Now a member of Galway Boxing Club, he formerly boxed out of Crumlin BC in Dublin.

He had his first senior fight in May 2022. Later that year he won the Irish novice title and fought abroad for the first time in 2023 when he reached the final of the Eindhoven Cup in Holland.

A month after winning the National Intermediate title he secured his first Irish Elite title last November and represented Ireland for the first time at the Strandja tournament in February. Later he won two fights at the first Olympic qualifier in Milan.

Now he is nine minutes and a win away from qualifying for the Paris Olympics.