Irish boxer (born 2001)
Dean Clancy OLY (born 20 October 2001) is an Irish amateur boxer who won a gold medal at light welterweight at the 2021 European Under-22 Championships and bronze at the 2023 European Games. He competed at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Biography
Having started boxing aged eight, Clancy had his first exhibition bout at nine-years-old during which he stopped his opponent in round two.[3]
He was 13 when he won his first Irish schoolboys’ title[3] with his maiden international honours coming at the 2017 European Junior Championship where he took a silver medal.[3][5]
It was silver again at the 2018 European Youth Championships[3][5] before a fourth-place finish at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he lost a box-off for the bronze medal against England's Hopey Price.[3]
Only weeks after his 18th birthday, Clancy won his first Irish national elite title, defeating Patryk Adamus via split decision in the featherweight final in November 2019.[3][6]
After winning four fights in six days to reach the final at the 2021 European Under-22 Championships in Roseto degli Abruzzi, Italy, including beating number 3 seed Nenad Javanovic of Serbia, Clancy won gold when his opponent for the decider, Ahmad Shtiwi from Israel, failed to show-up due to injury therefore handing him the victory by walkover.[3][7][8]
Moving into senior international competition, he won a bronze medal in the light welterweight division at the 2023 European Games in Poland, losing to French world champion Sofiane Oumiha in the semi-finals. The result was enough to secure him qualification for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.[3][9]
Clancy lost in the quarter-finals to Malik Hasanov from Azerbaijan at the 2024 European Amateur Boxing Championships.[10][11][12]
Clancy's Olympic place was officially confirmed when Ireland named their boxing team on 28 June 2024.[13][14] He was drawn to fight Obada Al-Kasbeh from Jordan in the first round on the opening day of the boxing tournament,[15] losing by 3-2 split decision despite his opponent being given a point deduction.[16][17][18]
References
