Cinderella Story for returning JP Delaney

After a hiatus from his boxing career, JP Delaney made it to the pinnacle of Irish boxing on Friday night.

The Belfast light heavy won the National Elite Championships, defeating Navan’s Chris Blaney.

Following the victory over the bookies favourite Blaney – a man now turning pro with Ricky Hatton – Delaney spoke to irish-boxing.com and admitted that “it feels brilliant, it sounds brilliant, thankfully all the hard work’s payed off.”

“He was very awkward, it mustn’t seem like that but in there he was an awkward awkward customer, so I just had to stay focused.”

“Some shots don’t work and some do, and I done the business thankfully.”

Delaney also explained his return to ther ring and his plans for the future, explaining that “I was out of the ring for two years but thankfully my coach came round to me one day.”

“I was sitting at 85kg and he sort of talked me back into it thank God.”

“Now I’m hoping to get myself down to the High Performance Unit and keep improving.”

Of course, Joe Ward holds a stranglehold on the 81kg division in Ireland, but Delaney is mature about his prospects going forward, noting that he is still young and he feels that a spot at the Tokyo 2020.