The future is bright for St. Joseph's Boxing Club youngster Tony Cox!

Tony Cox's rise to stardom is undeniable as the St. Joseph's Boxing Club youngster continued his rapid ascension in the sport by winning the Youth 2 title at the National Boy 4/5/6 Championships in Dublin recently.

The teenage sensation took the title with a first round stoppage against Leo Canning from Cherry Orchard for the biggest win of his career to date.

The 16-year-old qualified through the North West Zones which put them through to the Ulsters, and he went to Dublin and the Nationals as the Ulster champion when he boxed the talented and skilful Canning. It was a memorable contest for the young Derry man, who overcame a difficult start to have his hand raised in victory.

"If I'm being honest, Canning came out and started the sharper of the two," coach Cahair Duffy recalled. "He was having a good bit of success in the first third of the round, but Tony started to get close to him. Your man was quite tall and rangey, but as the round progressed Tony started to get close to him and landed a couple of body shots on him and slowed him down.

"Tony then caught him with a good body shot which led to a standing count from the referee. After the count, Tony stepped in and caught him with a powerful right hand over the top which stopped Canning in his tracks and that led to an automatic stoppage."

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It has been quite the journey for Tony, who actually started his boxing career later than most.

"Tony has been with the club for a relatively short period of time," Duffy explained. "He has only had 10 contests so he has progressed rapidly through the ranks for someone who is just over two years with us. He was quite a talented footballer and he came to us at the end of 2022, and he has taken to it really well. He's really been playing catch up and all the guys he has been competing against have all been two or three years ahead of him.

Tony with coaches Cahair Duffy and Rory McCallion.

"They have been boxing from 10 or 11 years of age, and they have all been Ulster champions and National champions and he has been competing with them all and pushing them in every contest that he's had and his hard work has paid off. He hasn't won all of his fights up to this point, but he has been in the ring with guys who have been much more experienced than him. But he's definitely one to look out for in the future because he's a talented wee lad."

The future is indeed bright for Tony, and having started 2025 strongly, there could yet be further big things in store in the remainder of the year.

"The U18s will be the next thing for him, unless he gets a call up to represent Ireland as a National champion in an international event. Whatever happens, he has a big future. For someone that's relatively new to the sport in comparison to others, he has made massive strides and we're really happy with him and we're really impressed with him."