John Joe Nevin has two broken legs after Mullingar attack
It has emerged that Irish Olympic medal winning boxer John Joe Nevin had both legs broken in an attack in Mullingar, County Westmeath.
It happened in the Ardleigh area of the town on Saturday morning.
It was reported after the assault that one leg had been broken, but after being admitted to hospital doctors discovered that both had been broken.
Mr Nevin, who is from Mullingar, won a silver medal at the 2012 Olympics in London.
He missed out on an Olympic gold medal after being defeated by Team GB's Luke Campbell in the bantamweight final.
Mr Nevin was admitted to Tullamore Regional Hospital following the attack.
News of the second breakage was revealed by the boxer to the Westmeath Topic.
His management also issued a statement to the paper.
"John Joe Nevin will be out of action for several months after being attacked in a Saturday morning incident. Nevin is gutted that his pro career has been slowed by the attack, but vows to come back stronger in the fall," GreeenBlood Boxing said.
His management said the boxer had been trying to act as a peacemaker when the attack happened.
Tom Moran from GreenBlood Boxing said doctors had told Mr Nevin that he will be out of action for two or three months before rehabilitation can begin on his legs.
"Our schedule has been thrown off by a few months, but hopefully we'll have John Joe back working hard by mid-summer and have him fighting again stateside in September," Mr Moran said.
"John Joe is okay and hopefully the Garda (Irish police) will take care of the matter now.
"We were hoping to get John Joe headlining a card in Ireland in the fall, but we may have to push that back some now because the big push is making him a major attraction in the Irish American audience.
"We have talks about New York, Boston and Philadelphia fights so we'll keep working on it."
Gardai are investigating the incident. No arrests have been made.