CHRISTMAS is cancelled for Kelyn Cassidy — whose bid to grow to be an Olympian begins now.
The Waterford ace cemented his spot as Eire’s prime light-heavyweight by securing a 3 in a row of Irish titles in Dublin on Saturday night time.
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Cassidy, 26, needed to do it the onerous approach, beating certainly one of his greatest friends in Galway puncher Gabriel Dossen.
Dossen, a two-time Elite middleweight champ with a European gold to his identify, had entered the 80kg ranks after his 75kg class was left off the Olympic roster.
The winner right here was a cert to make the staff for a world qualifying match in Italy on the finish of February — and Cassidy claimed it with each fingers.
It was a left that dropped Dossen within the first, whereas his proper hook seemed harmful throughout their ferocious three-round battle.
After the decision, the pair embraced within the ring because the magnitude of the consequence sank in.
Cassidy instructed SunSport: “Christmas is cancelled — the larger image is the Olympic Video games.
“If I would like something out of boxing, I simply wish to be an Olympian.
“I wish to put all the things I can in place to be an Olympian.
“I’m actually emotional. I’m boxing certainly one of my greatest mates there, we’ve boxed on the Irish staff collectively for years. All credit score to Gabriel, a category operator.
“However on the finish of the day, you need to neglect emotions within the ring. Look, he pushed me proper to the wire.
“I needed to pull all my tips out of the bag to beat him.”
The knockdown gave Cassidy momentum and whereas Dossen got here on sturdy, significantly within the third, the Déise warrior was capable of land sufficient to remain forward.
He added: “My left hand is my strongest hand. It’s good to get the consequence. I knew I wanted a great win right here to undoubtedly get the burden.
“We’re like brothers, in order that’s why it’s emotional. You see on the finish we simply stood there holding one another for some time as a result of, look, we’re actually good mates.
“And I do know it’s sport and you may’t be mates in there however I’ll meet up with Gabriel after this and I’ll meet him for a drink or no matter. Nothing however respect for him.”
Their battle was arguably probably the most anticipated bout of the night time, together with the featherweight decider that noticed Jude Gallagher beat Adam Hession.
Cassidy lapped it up, including: “That is the battle that everyone needed to see. I went on social media for an hour within the morning and it was the discuss of social media — Gabriel Dossen and Kelyn Cassidy. Individuals have been posting bits of our sparring and all the things.
“These are the large fights you wish to be in.
“You keep in mind the fights like when Darren O’Neill fought Darren Sutherland and the excitement round it.”
Cassidy has reached the quarter-finals of the World Championships and European Video games, slipping to tight defeats when wins would have landed him on the rostrum.
He added: “I simply received some robust attracts. I received a troublesome draw on the European Video games, had two good wins, and within the battle to qualify I find yourself assembly Oleksandr Khyzhniak of Ukraine.
The Olympic silver medallist and needs to be gold medallist solely he was knocked out when he was 2-0 up within the third spherical.
“I solely received crushed on a countback. However you possibly can’t let this stuff set you again, you’ve received to get pleasure from them and transfer on.”