A senior boxing tournament will take place at the Glen to honour the famed boxing Buckleys of Mallow.

On Friday night, a spectacular senior boxing tournament will take place at the Glen Boxing Club to honour the famed boxing family, the Buckleys of Mallow.

This event has been arranged by the Cork County Boxing Board is association with the Glen BC to mark the centenary of a famous boxing tournament, which took place in the Town Hall in Doneraile in 1924.

The boxing Buckleys are part of Cork boxing folklore, and their contribution to the sport is legendary. 

Pa Buckley senior took part in the 1924 tournament. 

At that time, he was the Irish Bantamweight champion. 

He won his first national title in 1922 and won the title again in the 1924/25 season. 

Pa had a great reputation for being a rapid-fire boxer, who displayed speed and great ring craft. 

Pa had a great following in North Cork and followers from far and wide came to see him boxing.

Pa was the trailblazer and many members of the Buckley family went on to enjoy a huge reputation in the sport over the following 40 years. These included such household names as, John L and Dan, and the brothers Dave, JJ and Paddy Buckley. 

The family members were all remembered as great sportsmen and each member had their own individual flair culminating in widespread appeal, which led to a great public appreciation of the Buckley's contribution to the promotion of amateur boxing.

Joe Louis, the former heavyweight champion of the world is pictured on this page with the great Paddy Buckley. 

Paddy earned a reputation as one of Ireland’s greatest boxers in the late forties and early 1950s. 

Paddy fought and defeated Ireland’s finest, he was revered on the international circuit.

Buckley proudly boxed with the great Mallow Boxing Club, which is defunct today. 

However, he was well known for doing his training with the Glen Boxing Club in Blackpool. 

Three times a week he cycled from his home to the Glen Club. 

He had many great spars. Amongst them was Paddy ‘The Champ’ Martin, father of the Tánaiste Micheál Martin.

Last Friday afternoon in the presence of legendary international Gordon Joyce, the Tánaiste met this writer outside a polling booth in Blackrock. While he was there, his primary purpose was to ascertain the voting percentages in the area, however, Martin once again showed his great loyalty to boxing. 

“Is the Buckley brothers tournament still going on next week?” he enquired, and received the answer in the affirmative. 

“I would love to be there,” he added.

 “But unfortunately I have a prior engagement.

“My father spoke on many occasions of his friendship with Paddy Buckley, and I met family members at the opening of the Boxing Museum last April. 

“Would you please extend my best wishes to the family and I hope everyone will enjoy a great boxing tournament on Friday night."

Meanwhile, on Sunday afternoon next, all roads lead to Bandon where the De Courcey Boxing Club is based, a big tournament is organised in the town and will commence at 1pm and is billed as the ‘Bandon Brawl’ 

De Courcey BC are the current winners of the Cork Club of the Year, and proudly display the Victor J. Aston Cup for all to admire. 

Head coach Will Rossall is acknowledged by all as a dynamic operator. 

He travels the highways and byways of Ireland with his magnificent team of male and female boxers.

De Courcey is a very competitive club and participates in tournaments and sparing sessions, anywhere and everywhere. 

The club has been to the United States on a number of occasions and has linked with British boxing clubs on a number of occasions. 

This coming weekend’s boxing extravaganza will be the second year of the ‘Bandon Brawn’ following last year’s outstanding success. 

The event will have 14 very competitive bouts, and a specially designed club medal will be presented to the participants. 

The top home and away boxers will receive a unique trophy with the feature being a boxing belt formation.

Next year, the club are planning to run a very big tournament, and the plan is to present the winners of each bout with the De Courcey Belt, as displayed by the club’s head coach Will Rossall on this page. 

Cork’s top club are setting a high standard, and next Sunday’s event gives patron an opportunity to enjoy some great boxing.

Elsewhere, John Morrissey has been appointed by the Cork County Board to be the Cork Senior Boxing Liaison Officer. 

Morrissey, who is the current Cork boxing coach of the year has enjoyed phenomenal success in recent times. 

Following arrangements made by the president of the Cork County Board with Zaur Antia, Morrissey will make representation to Antia and both men will make out a programme to further enhance the standard of senior boxing on Leeside.

Last Saturday night, St Colman's BC organised a splendid boxing tournament to mark their 40th anniversary. 

A fine crowd attended the event where special presentations were made, and club stalwart Mike O’Neill was presented with the best boxer accolade. 

A full report on this tournament will be featured shortly in The Echo.

Sadly, this week, the Cork County Boxing Board and the Cork Ex-Boxers Association wish to express their sincere sympathy to the Kelleher family following the passing of Carmel Kelleher.

She was Tom Kelleher’s wife and mother to Michael. 

The thoughts of all boxers and followers are with the Kelleher family at this time. 

May she rest in peace.