Kelyn Cassidy booked his place at the 2023 European Games quarter-finals on Monday afternoon, beating his Welsh opponent, Taylor Bevan, by a majority decision in Poland.
The Saviour's Crystal's boxer returns to the ring on Wednesday for a potentially historic fight against Ukrainian Oleksandr Khyzhniak at 80kg.
As per the qualification guidelines of this tournament, four boxers will qualify for Paris 2024. Eight boxers are now booked in for those quarter-finals and the 4 winners of the bouts will have their names printed on tickets for a flight to France next summer.
The guy in the other corner
The 27-year-old Ukranian that will stand opposite Cassidy on Wednesday comes well-regarded.
Khyzhniak is already an Olympic silver medallist, having stood on the podium in Toko. Prior to that, he was World & European Champion in 2017 as well as taking a previous European Games title in 2019.
All of his previous success - including a 2012 world youth title - came at middleweight; five kilos down from where he is currently weighing in.
His only prior international title at light heavyweight was a third-place finish at the European Championships in Baku, in 2015.
The journey so far
Cassidy has mostly cruised through his opening two contests in Poland.
The judges saw his opening fight with Mindaugas Gediminas as a clean 5-0 sweep on the cards, while Monday's win against Taylor Bevan was a majority decision after the three 3-minute rounds.
The Ballybeg native was a surprise package to many outside of Waterford in October 2021 when he stopped Tommy Hyde in the first round of their light heavyweight decider at the senior elite championships. Hyde recently boxed in Waterford and looked impressive in his victory.
After his then-unexpected win over Hyde in Dublin, Cassidy was drafted into the Irish high-performance unit for training and has since represented Ireland at both world and European levels. He fell one result short of silverware at the world championships mere weeks after his Irish title success.
2022 was blighted with injury. Two injuries to be specific, so competition time was limited.
He returned to Dublin back in January and retained his title, beating Dean Clancy 5-0. He has since done the circuit with Team Ireland, competing and succeding at various 'Box Cup' outings across Europe.
It all comes down to this
That journey has been geared towards this week. This is the first genuine tangible chance he has to qualify for Paris. Yes, he could bank on a pick from Team Ireland, but that's no guarantee if somebody else suddenly catches fire over the winter months.
Wednesday afternoon against Oleksandr Khyzhniak is a guarantee.
If the Waterford man can see his way past this admittedly impressive opponent, he'll be getting a phone call from Team Ireland logistics to transport his bags and baggage to a house in a small suburb of Paris. #
Saint-Denis, perhaps.
