Irish boxing has 'ambition and potential to do better', says new chief Jon Mackey

RTÉ News​

17-05-2025

A smile breaks across Jon Mackey's face when asked how he has found his role as national performance director for Irish Boxing.
"It's been an eye-opener," he tells RTÉ Sport, acknowledging that given he is less than a month in the position, there has been plenty of meeting and greeting as he plots a way forward.
Mackey arrives at a critical juncture for the sweet science. Boxing has been the poster sport for Ireland on the Olympic stage, with 19 of our 42 medals won inside the ring.
The London Games was the peak, with four brought home, but since then, only Kellie Harrington (twice) and Aidan Walsh (Tokyo) have stood on the podium.
If questions have been asked about a decline inside the ring, alarm bells have sounded outside it.
Mackey's predecessors, Billy Walsh and Bernard Dunne, left in contentious circumstances, while governance issues have dominated the agenda.
The sport has endured a difficult time of late globally – it was only officially included in the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics programme in March after much uncertainty – and it has been no different on these shores.
The Irish Athletic Boxing Association (IABA) has formally approved a proposal to join World Boxing, paving the way for Irish boxers to compete at the LA Games.
Mackey, who enjoyed a successful eight-year tenure with Canoeing Ireland, decided to take up the new role before that constitutional change came into being, but was confident that the sport was moving in the right direction.
"It was a no-brainer at that point and I think that came out in the vote," he said. "It was a substantial number of clubs that voted to make that change.
"I listened to Anto Donnelly's acceptance speech when he was voted in as president of the IABA and that interview inspired me to go for the role because I thought 'this is something different'.
"I found myself nodding in agreement, so I was confident and positive that the right decisions were going to be made in due course. I think they've shown that."
Given the turmoil his predecessors in the role found themselves in at various points, he greatly appreciated Dunne and Walsh reaching out to him upon his appointment.
A few hours in Dunne's company, in particular, crystallised his own view on what he needed to bring to the role to make it a success.
"He said just to be open to what you see yourself and make your own impression of it which I think was very useful advice.
"I've taken that on board and it has stood me well so far."
With over 360 clubs nationally, Mackey is keen to engage with them throughout his tenure and dispel the notion in some quarters that there is a growing divide between the clubs and the high-performance unit.
"I don't see high performance being a disconnected, siloed part of the sport that operates on its own," he insisted.
"The work that's being done at club level is paramount to the success of the high-performance unit. Boxers don't come to the high-performance unit unpolished, they come at a very high standard. I think that needs to be recognised and I think it is recognised."
Having competed for 30 years at international level at kickboxing, combat sport is far from a new calling for Mackey.
After some lofty heights, he is keen to restore the glory days, aware of the work required to meet their goals.
"Our ambition is to do better. I think the potential is there to do better," he said.
"It's built into our strategy, a 10% increase in our international medals.
"It's a young team that we're dealing with. If you look at the age profile of the medal winners from the Paris Games, there's a significant gap between the age of our boxers and the medal winners, which shows that there's potential for us to grow and mature into performances.
"That in itself is possible. Our aspiration is always going to be to build on the legacies of days gone by."