Waterford boxer Kelyn Cassidy fights for a World Boxing Championships medal tonight.
The Saviours Crystals fighter goes in the quarter-finals of the men's light-heavyweight division against Belarussian Aliaksei Alfiorau in this evening's session.
It's after the Irish champion defeated Olympian, Shabbos Negmatulloev of Tajikistan in the round of 16 last night.
Keyln's journey has captured both Waterford and the nation as he has represented Team Ireland with distinction - being the only Irish boxer to win at this year's championships, and now on the cusp of a medal.
Cassidy is not the first Waterford boxer to fight at this stage of a World Championships.
Eight-time Irish champion, Neil Gough, also fought in the quarter-finals during his career. He competed at the World Juniors in Cuba in 1987 and reached the quarter-finals of the senior equivalent in Hungary in 1997.
He says Kelyn's journey to medal contention comes as no surprise, as it's the product of years of hard work.
"It's brilliant to see. Kelyn has worked very hard. He has earned it. People think it's a surprise, it's not a surprise - he's a very good boxer. He's boxing with years and he's put all the effort in with Joey Paul and Larry in Saviours. They've worked hard to keep that club going. To produce a boxer like Kelyn is just fantastic."
Game plan
Gough watched Alfiorau defeat beat Iran's Meysam Gheshlaghi last night. A southpaw with a similar style to Cassidy, he took a majority 4-1 win also.
Neil believes the similarity in styles will lead to a change in game plan for Cassidy this evening.
"I watched the fight. He was on the fight directly after Kelyn last night. He's got a very similar style to Kelyn - he's a southpaw too. He whipped a really lovely short left uppercut to the body a lot. A very good technical boxer too. It'll be a different fight tonight from what we've seen in the last couple of fights. The other boxers came after Kelyn, he was able to move, and punch and box. This will be more technical, a bit more like a game of chess I think. He has the punches, he [Cassidy] has the skills, and he has the ability to do it. It's all three rounds of boxing."
Neil believes that Zaur Antia, the Team Ireland Coach, will have a big role to play in any potential success.
"Kelyn will have to change his plan slightly from what he has been doing. You have to move different, go in different directions and the whole lot. They'll have it all planned. Zaur Antia is a super coach. He'll have a technical plan for Kelyn to instigate in the ring. Fingers crossed, he'll come out on top."
Family pride
Kelyn's uncles David and John Cassidy appeared on Deise Today to speak about their pride in their nephew's journey to the quarter-final. Many in the Ballybeg area have got together at the Saviours Crystals Boxing Club to watch the fights.
David says the last few weeks from when Kelyn became Irish champion, right up to tonight's medal fight has been like a dream come true.
"It's like a dream come true. It's a dream for Kelyn too. Kelyn has earned every bit of it. He trains, goes to work, comes home, trains - that's just what he does. I don't know where he's gotten the energy out of. We just can't believe it."
Kelyn will likely take to the ring around 7pm Irish time tonight and the evening's action will be streamed live on YouTube.
