Tiffany Spencer with members of the Ireland squad
Jobstown have biggest ‘stable’ of elite boxers
THE u23s Boxing Elite Championships took place last weekend in Budapest and saw several Irish boxers win medals.
Local talent competing included a trio of fighters from Jobstown Boxing Club, Tiffany Spencer, Ryan Jenkins and Tadgh O’Donnell.
Jenkins and O’Donnell both reached the last eight in the 70kg and 75kg weight class respectively while Spencer was one of the medalists for Ireland picking up a bronze in the 48kg division following a split decision loss in the semi final.
Spencer performed admirably throughout the fight and was affected by a questionable decision on the judges scorecard.
After winning the first two rounds by a score of 4-1, Spencer looked set to make an appearance in the final before the last judge scored the bout a 10-8 after Spencer was run out of the ropes by her opponent.
The judge was the only one of the five to award the round a 10-8 to Spencer’s opponent with three others scoring the final round as a 10-9 and one scoring it as 10-9 in favour of Spencer.
Coach Amanda Spencer spoke of the frustration after the bout.
“The other girl that’s in the final, Tiffany has already beaten her previously so we are fully sure that Tiffany would have brought home that Golden medal had she been in that final.”
It would be Tiffany’s semi final opponent Nurselen Yalgettekin who would emerge victorious in the final against Hungary’s Lilla Szeleczki.
Despite the semi final defeat for Spencer, the overall experience for the club was a positive one, now with the addition of Tadhg O’Donnell to the roster the number of talent coming from Jobstown Boxing Club is continuing to increase.
“I think we’ve got one of the biggest stables of elite boxers in Dublin. We’ve a good seven elites.”
A notable omission for the squad was World Youth Champion Adam Olaniyan who was set to also make the trip to Budapest competing in the 90kg+ division.
The heavyweight was unfortunately ruled out of action during training camp up to the event breaking his wrist and is set to be out of action until early 2026.
Jon Mackey High Performance Director with the IABA stated:
“This is a very young team with most boxers aged 19 or 20 and contesting their first Elite benchmark championship so coming home with 6 medals is a good result.
‘We’ve gleaned a lot of learnings here in Budapest, and we’re keen to put them in taction in the High Performance Unit to capitalize on the clear potential shown by every single member of this 16 boxer team.”
