How many future Olympic heroes are going to pass through these halls?
A brand new, state-of-the-art boxing training centre will be opened by legendary former Ireland coach Billy Walsh on 28 December.
The facility, the West of Ireland Training Center at Lough Lannagh Holiday Village in Castlebar, will provide a hub for the best boxing talent in the West of Ireland in the push for gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and beyond.
As well as Walsh, who now coaches the USA team, the centre will be opened by former Taoiseach Enda Kenny, Minister Michael Ring and members of the Mayo Local Authority.
“The Centre has been tried and tested over the last few months by the boxers, trainers and officials,” said Sean Horkan, who was the Irish boxing team manager at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona.
“We first proposed this back in 2013 after we trained there with Poland and Scotland prior to the worlds in Kazakhstan, said Billy Walsh from Colarado, base of USA Boxing.
“We felt it was an ideal location to host a Regional Center for Connaught boxing after years of great work by the club chairman, Myles Cresham and the Mayo boxing family along with the tremendous support from the former Taoiseach.
“It is marvellous to see it eventually come to fruition. It will boost Connaught boxing and become a feeder for the National High-Performance team which will help give it sustainability and develop a continuous supply of Connaught talent to the National team for many years to come.”
