Kenneth "Kenny" Egan (born January 7 1982) is an amateur boxer from Clondalkin, Dublin best known for winning a European Bronze in 2006 at Light-heavyweight and winning silver in the final of the 81 kg, Light-Heavyweight boxing final at the 2008 Olympics.

Career

Egan currently fights out of the Neilstown Boxing Club that is based in Dublin. He fights in the 81 kg class that is more commonly known in boxing circles as Light-Heavyweight. Egan won the national championships from 2005 to 2007, where he twice beat Darren O'Neill‎ in the final.

2006 European Amateur Boxing Championships - Bulgaria

At the 2006 European Amateur Boxing Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria he lost his semifinal to Russian eventual winner Artur Beterbiyev.

Results

• Defeated Robert Woge (Germany) RSCO 2
• Defeated Mamadou Diambang (France) RSCO 3
• Beaten by Artur Beterbiyev (Russia) RSCO 2

2007 World Amateur Boxing Championships, Chicago

At the 2007 World Amateur Boxing Championships held at the University of Illinois Chicago's UIC Pavilion. He beat Julius Jackson and Julio Castillo then lost to Marijo Sivolija.

Results

• Defeated Julius Jackson (Virgin Islands) RSCO 2
• Defeated Julio Castillo (Ecuador) 16-10
• Beaten by Marijo Sivolija (Croatia) 17-9

Beijing 2008 Olympics campaign

At the first Olympic qualifier the southpaw was upset by Ramazan Magomedov, at the second he beat four fighters including Kennedy Katende and made it to Beijing.

At the 2008 Olympics he once again defeated Julius Jackson from The Virgin Islands in the round of 32. In the round of 16 he defeated Bahram Muzzafer, the Turkish boxer, before overcoming Washington Silva in the quarter-final. This third victory guaranteed Egan and Ireland a medal, the third medal secured following Paddy Barnes and Darren Sutherland's advancement to the semi-finals. Egan beat Tony Jeffries, the British boxer, in the semi-final round. He lost to China's Xiaoping Zhang in the Olympic Final Gold Medal match in Beijing on Sunday 24 August, 2008.

European Olympic Qualifications - Pescara, Italy - February 25-March 1 2008

• Defeated Myasnik Sargsyan (Armenia) RSCO 3
• Defeated Emil Krastev (Bulgaria) 29-8
• Beaten by Ramazan Magomedov (Belarus) 17-13

European Olympic Qualifications - Athens, Greece - April 7-12 2008

• Defeated Alessandro Sinacore (Italy) 23-14
• Defeated Daniel Kooij (Holland) 13-4
• Defeated Gottlieb Weiss (Germany) 21-11
• Defeated Kennedy Katende (Sweden) 15-10

2008 Olympic Results

• Defeated Julius Jackson (Virgin Islands) 22-2
• Defeated Bahram Muzaffer (Turkey) 10-2
• Defeated Washington Silva (Brazil) 8-0
• Defeated Tony Jeffries (Great Britain) 10-3
• Beaten by Xiaoping Zhang (China) 11-7

Tributes

Follwing the final President Mary McAleese and Taoiseach Brian Cowen gave Egan some glowing tributes.

"I am delighted to learn of Kenny's wonderful accomplishment today in Beijing," the President said. "The people of Ireland are uplifted by this outstanding achievement which continues a tradition of Irish Olympic boxing excellence dating back to 1952.""''

Cowen echoed these remarks by saying "Kenny fought a brave fight and gave everything in a wonderful bout of top class boxing" Glowing Tributes

Final Controversy

At the end of the third round in the gold medal contest between Egan and Xiaoping, the judges failed to score several punches landed by Egan that would have given him the lead. NBC announcers concurred on this point. The scoring system throughout the Olympics had been the topic of many debates, not only in this bout, but throughout many of the games. Reuters, Monday August 25 2008 Irish bookmaker, Paddy Power, paid out all bets on Egan to win the Gold, despite this not being the actual result.

External links

• First Qualifier
• Second Qualifier