The Irish Amateur Boxing Association has denied that Billy Walsh has resigned as head coach ©IABA

The Irish Amateur Boxing Association (IABA) has rejected reports that Billy Walsh, head coach of the IABA High Performance Unit, has tendered his resignation ahead of a potential move to take charge of the United States’ women’s team.

Walsh is credited for contributing to Ireland’s success at the London 2012 Olympics where they secured four medals, including the country’s first gold at the Games for 16 years when Katie Taylor triumphed in the women’s under 60 kilogram lightweight division.

However, ahead of October's AIBA World Boxing Championships in Doha, which will offer Rio 2016 qualification berths, reports had emerged that Walsh was set to depart his role to take up a lucrative coaching role in the US.

In a statement, Fergal Carruth, IABA chief executive, rejected the suggestion that Walsh has tendered his resignation, but has expressed that resolving the future of their head coach is being dealt with urgently.

"This is an employer/employee matter," the statement read.

"Billy Walsh is currently on annual leave and has not tendered his resignation to the IABA.

"This is an issue of the utmost urgency for the IABA and is being dealt with accordingly.

"The IABA will release a full and thorough statement once these discussions have concluded, any further comment would be unhelpful and inappropriate in these circumstances."

Billy Walsh is widely credited with guiding the Irish team to an excellent performance at London 2012
Billy Walsh is widely credited with guiding the Irish team to an excellent performance at London 2012 ©Getty Images

Walsh is currently listed as one of the coaches set to travel to the Feliks Stamm tournament, which will begin on September 9 in Warsaw, with two-time Olympic medallist Paddy Barnes set to compete alongside Michael O’Reilly, Brendan Irvine, Sean McComb, Ceire Smith and Wayne Kelly.

Barnes, an under 49kg light flyweight, has already secured a berth at next year’s Olympics after finishing top of his division at the end of the World Series of Boxing, a feat which was also achieved by under 56kg bantamweight Michael Conlan.

The team will be hoping to continue their success having seen Conlan and Joseph Ward claim golds in the under 56kg and under 81kg divisions at last month’s European Boxing Confederation Championships in Samokov, Bulgaria.



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