Baptism of fire for gutsy Portlaoise boxer Udeze in National Under 19 Championship finals

PORTLAOISE Boxing Club’s Solomon Udeze certainly raised a few eyebrows with his gutsy performance against Jude Fitzgerald in Friday night’s National Under 19 Championship finals held in the National Stadium.

In what was very much a baptism of fire for the young 17-year-old super heavyweight, Udeze certainly turned in a commendable performance against his Dungarvan opponent who did still emerge from the 90+kg showpiece a unanimous winner.

Amazingly, that title decider marked the very first contest for Udeze, who only joined Portlaoise back in February, and with no previous boxing experience.

Yet he delivered a performance of great tenacity, and one that Portlaoise head coach, Pat Ryan insists he will build on over the coming years.

“It was a great performance by Solomon,” Ryan told the *****Laois Nationalist*****. “I only have him since February, and he had no real boxing experience at all, but he's an athlete and a real sportsman as well.

“He never took a step back against Fitzgerald and there were passages there that he was absolutely top notch. You have to applaud him for his endeavour, to be so courageous and back himself.

“He trusted us, he trusted himself and we trusted him, and he delivered a very fine performance.

“I felt he should have won the second round. There’s no doubt in my mind about that, because he made all the attacks, made all the contact.

“But that was his first fight, and it came in the National Under 19 Championship Finals and in the National Stadium, the home of Irish boxing. You'd have to be extremely proud of him” he said.

Ryan firmly believes Udeze has the potential to make huge progress in the sport and intends to provide him with a lot more competitive experience over the coming months.

Indeed, he has the young Portarlington man earmarked for a number of multi-nations and will also be looking to enter him in this month’s Monkstown International Box Cup.

“It’s through experience that Solomon will move on. There's no doubt, about that,” insisted Ryan. “We’ve been spending a lot of time with him now, one to one, and he has been very receptive to that.

“He’s been sparring senior champions and top seniors in his preparation for the Under 19 Championships over the last seven or eight weeks.

“He's very bright, very intelligent and he absolutely wants it. He certainly sees himself as being a boxer.

“Solomon will be starting to push the boat out now after this and we’ll get him that experience and knowledge he needs, because it's the competition that breeds champions,” he stressed.

Udeze’s defeat in the National Under 19 Championships came just a week after his Portlaoise clubmate, Neddy Harty was denied further passage through to the 65kg decider after he was beaten by eventual champion, John Donoghue in another enthralling contest.

Both Portlaoise boxers are, however, eligible to compete again in next season’s National Under 19 competition.