Joe Ward booked his place in the quarter finals of the World Championships in Kazakhstan. The Westmeath Light Heavyweight beat Norbert Harsca (30-27,30-27, 30-26) from Hungary to set up a last 8 meeting with Russian Nikita Ivanov tomorrow in a repeat of the 2011 European final which Ward won in Turkey.
It means there's four Irish boxers in the quarter finals but unfortunately Sean McComb made his exit from the last 16. He lost on a split decision to Elvin Isayev (29-28, 28-29, 27-30) of Azerbaijan in the lightweight division. Still one more to go - double Olympic medalist Paddy Barnes squares off against Kenyan Simon Nzioki after 2.
