Rio ticket will justify the means for Paddy Barnes

The end will certainly justify the means should Paddy Barnes qualify for the 2016 Olympics with a victory in his final fight of the World Series of Boxing on 18 April in Venezuela.

The two-time Olympic bronze medallist currently sits at the top of the WSB light-flyweight rankings, two points clear of Uzbekistan fighter Hasanboy Dusmatov.

And should Barnes finish his campaign in South American with a clean sweep of wins, the Belfast man will have secured safe passage to the Rio Games, leaving him with well over a year to prepare his campaign for a gold medal.

Barnes made it six wins out of six on Saturday evening in Milan as he proved too powerful for Argentina Condors light-flyweight Junior Leandro Zarate, taking the bout with a flawless 50:45 result, winning every round on each judge's scorecard.

"I absolutely hate it" - Barnes on fighting across the globe every two weeks

And Barnes revealed that he was struggling with a cold entering Saturday's fight but still knew that he was too good for his opponent.

Speaking to RTÉ Sport, Barnes said: "I knew before I went in that your man wasn't up to much. I was dying with a cold, so I'm just glad that he was no good."

And Barnes was pretty clear about his feelings towards the arduous worldwide event, where boxers have to fight every two weeks in every corner of the globe.

"I absolutely hate it," said Barnes. "You're travelling all over the world, and every two weeks I'm fighting and every two weeks I'm weighing in.

"It's so hard. It's so tough on my body to get the weight down, week in, week out. Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Italy every other week. It's really, really tough.

"You're coming home and sometimes you don't even think your kid knows you. Who's this strange man in the house?"

Barnes elaborated more on the perils of a boxer's life and admitted that he is not the best company, to put it mildly, in the days and hours before the weigh-in.

"My natural weight, I walk about at 58 kilos and I have to weigh in every two weeks at 49kg. So I have to watch what I eat and keep the weight down and train extra hard just to keep down at a suitable weight to stay at striking distance every fortnight.

"The coaches know not to talk to me. There's times in the room when Mick (Conlan) starts asking me question and I have to leave the room. I'm like, why is he even talking to me for? My blood does be boiling. But after the weigh in, I'm a different person altogether."

But Barnes believes that the benefits of fighting in the WSB outweigh the negatives with the Olympics on his mind.

"Because I signed up to this WSB, it made me miss the National Championship, which was disappointing, because I wanted to win eight titles.

"But this is like an Olympic qualifier and I could qualify mid-April. So why not? The more chances I have to qualify, the better. And I felt, deep down, that this style of boxing with the longer rounds would suit me better, so I thought it was the right decision for me to go this route."

And while Barnes has been imperious in this season's tournament, romping to six straight unanimous decisions, there could well be a sting in the tail, due to the nature of the WSB's scoring system.

Barnes leads the division by two points but still needs a four-point win to guarantee that he secures top spot, which comes with an Olympic berth, however, should he receive a walk-over in the final bout, he could fall one point short of automatic qualification.

"If I win by a unanimous decision it's five points, if I win on a split decision it's four points," explained Barnes. "I'm two points clear and the fella behind me, even if he wins, and I get four points, I'm still a point ahead and still winning.

"If this fella pulls out (in Venuzuela), it's going to leave me in a bad position. I'll be level with the Uzbekistani. It's not fair, but to be fair, a boxer pulled out against the Uzbekistani."

Fellow Olympic bronze medallist and Italia Thunder team-mate, Mick Conlan also finds himself in with a shout of Olympic qualification going in to his final bout.

The Belfast man is in second place, with two automatic spots available for the bantamweight division, going in to his final bout so victory could prove enough for a ticket to Rio, however, there are still outstanding fights in the division that will dictate the final standings.

Ballymena boxer Steven Donnelly has also fared well at this year's WSB and the welterweight is currently in third place in the rankings, fighting for Rafako Hussars Poland.

With two welterweight Olympic spots available, Donnelly will now need other results to go in his favour to snatch one of the two available places.

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