'He came to me and said ‘I’m not finished, the business is not done’...Aidan is complex but he is an outstanding person and an outstanding talent. He's a different type of boxer and we see that'
Aidan Walsh looked lost to Ireland's bid to qualify boxers for the Olympics - but a kids gloves approach has got him on the plane to Paris.
READ MORE: Amy Broadhurst omission defended by Irish boxing chief after record 10 qualify for Paris Games"At the back end of September, October last year, I really wasn’t sure," Heberle said. "I wasn’t sure whether he wanted to come back. It had to be his decision. All we did was take the pressure off him - allow him to have his break, allow him to work through whatever it was that was troubling him and just be in the familiar environment of home.
"Because he’s just a great athlete, he doesn’t lose conditioning, he has no issues making weight. Aidan could have three months off and he still comes in in good shape. I did think we may have lost him, but I think we did the right thing - we just took all the pressure off. That’s the key with Aidan.
With Antia staying behind in Dublin to work with the six boxers who had already qualified for Paris, Damian Kennedy was in Walsh's corner in Bangkok. He fought six times last week, including two box-offs after losing his quarter-final, to make it through. Kennedy has worked with Walsh since 2015 and acknowledged the amazing turnaround it took over the past six months.
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