KELLIE'S TRIBUTE TO LEGEND ZAUR

KELLIE Harrington says she's "devastated" with the news that coaching legend Zaur Anita has announced his retirement from Irish boxing.

- SEAN THORNTON

The double Olympic gold medallist was paying tribute to Anita after the Georgian decided to step down from his role as head coach of the Irish Athletic Boxing Association's high performance unit.

Anita has been with the IABA since 2003 and has coached some of Ireland's greatest ever boxers winning Olympic gold medals with Harrington twice in 2020 and 2024 and with Katie Taylor in 2012.

He was also in the corner for the medal winning exploits of Kenneth Egan, Darren Sutherland, Paddy Barnes, John Joe Nevin, Michael Conlan and Aidan Walsh.

Leaving

Anita was promoted to head coach with the IABA in 2015, following the shock departure of Billy Walsh just one year before the 2016 Olympics in Rio.

Harrington told RTE last night: "He was a boxing man 24/7 and he's a really, really good person. Boxing is his life, it's what has consumed so many of his years and I'm really sad to see him go. I'm actually devastated that he's leaving because you don't realise what you had until it's gone.

"Zaur has had a very big impact on my career, I was away with him before I even won a medal. But in 2016 I got a world medal and started to be involved in high performance.