Peter Phelan praised Leon Cooney’s ability to put a plan into practice after the teenager’s triumph at the England Boxing Schools Championship finals.
The 13-year-old became Wirral Community Police (CP) Boxing Club’s first national schoolboy champion in Sheffield at the weekend.
Cooney defeated Jimmy Doran from Windrush Valley ABC in the 50kg final at the English Institute of Sport, losing the first round but recovering to take a split decision.
“It’s a fantastic achievement and Leon was a very happy young man after the final,” said Wirral CP Boxing Club chairman Phelan, who coaches Cooney along with Lee Holmes.
“Believe it or not, after all these years this is the first schoolboy champion our club has ever had.We’ve been to the final a couple of times and gone close, and we’ve won lots of other titles but this was our first win so everyone is delighted.
“We did a little bit of homework beforehand because it’s nice to know what you’re coming up against and we found out he was facing a little southpaw who was very cagey and very clever
“Our plan was to make him come to us but we soon realised we were in with a very clever little boxer and to be fair he out-boxed Leon to win the first round.
“We sent Leon out in the second to put it on his toes and that’s exactly what he did: I think it shocked the lad a bit and Leon won the second.
“We told Leon that it was one round each in our eyes and it was down to him to go and win it for himself, and he pushed the lad from corner to corner and completely outworked him.”
Cooney, who lives in Moreton on the Wirral, switched to the Ellesmere Port-based club at the back end of last year having lost in at the quarter-final stage of the competition in 2014
He progressed through a series of regional finals at Liverpool’s Croxteth Sports Centre, Great Barr Leisure Centre in Birmingham and DeMontfort Sports Hall in Evesham.
Cooney has been rewarded for his success with an international call-up having been included in the England squad for the Great Britain Schools Tri-Nations tournament in Swansea, which gets underway on June 12.
Phelan said: “We’ve got a big club fundraiser planned for that weekend so unfortunately I won’t be able to go with him but it’s a brilliant opportunity for Leon.”
