Darren O'Neill is an Irish

amateur boxer Amateur boxing is a variant of boxing practiced at the collegiate level, at the Olympic Games, Pan American Games and Commonwealth Games, as well as many associations. Amateur boxing bouts are short in duration, comprising three rounds of three ...

. He won a gold medal at the 2009 EU Championships, and silver at the 2010 European Championships and 2014 EU Championships. He also captained Ireland's boxers at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, th ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Boxing

O'Neill claimed all honours around him in Ireland at underage levels, as well as playing for Kilkenny U-21 hurley team. He finished second at light-heavyweight at the National Championships 2005 and 2006 behind

Kenneth Egan Kenneth "Kenny" Egan (born 7 January 1982) is an Irish politician and boxer from Clondalkin, Dublin best known for winning a silver medal in the final of the 81 kg, Light-Heavyweight boxing final at the 2008 Olympics. He won ...

. O'Neill has since won four national middleweight championships and two heavyweight championships where he has excelled. He lost to

Darren Sutherland Darren John Sutherland (18 April 1982 – 14 September 2009) was an Irish professional boxer from Mulhuddart, Dublin. His amateur career was crowned by a 2008 Olympic bronze medal. Early life Sutherland was born in Dublin to Linda from Fing ...

on a close decision in 2008. He also lost out on a chance to compete at an Olympic qualifier to Sutherland in an IABA box-off. O'Neill was also 2009 European Union champion and 2010 European silver medalist. In the 2010 European championships he defeated four opponents including medal favourite Sergey Derevyanchenko of Ukraine before losing to Artem Chebotarev of Russia in the final. He was named the captain of the Irish boxing team at the 2011 European Championships. He secured automatic Olympic qualification for the 2012 London games in the World Amateur Championships 2011. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London he again captained the Irish boxing team, but went out in the last 16 to

Stefan Härtel Stefan Härtel (born 6 February 1988) is a German professional boxer who held the European super-middleweight title in 2019. As an amateur, Härtel represented Germany at the 2012 Olympics, reaching the quarter-finals of the middleweight bracket ...

. He bore the flag for Ireland at the

2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony The closing ceremony of the London 2012 Summer Olympics, also known as A Symphony of British Music, was held on 12 August 2012 in the Olympic Stadium, London. The chief guest was Prince Harry of Wales representing Queen Elizabeth II. The closi ...

. By 2015, he had moved up to heavyweight, reaching the Irish final. In July 2019 he announced his decision to turn professional.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:ONeill, Darren Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Boxers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Irish schoolteachers Olympic boxers for Ireland Irish male boxers Boxers at the 2015 European Games European Games competitors for Ireland Middleweight boxers Boxers from County Kilkenny People from Paulstown

Boxing

See also

References