It’s in the Blood – Jaiden the latest Irish champion in Buckley Family Dynasty
The latest boxing Buckley could be the best predicts European Games medal winner Regan Buckley.
Jaiden Buckley is the latest off the production line and another to be excelling in the family business. The young teens’ National Senior Cadet Championship win, recorded earlier this month, made him the fourth Irish Champion to come out of a family you certainly don’t want to pick a fight with.
The new 39kg National Senior Cadet Champion of Ireland joins Lisa, Zannah, and ‘Rego’ as Buckley Irish title winners.
Considering he accounts for only one of the family’s 18 Irish titles [former Irish International Lisa has five, Zannah, who only lost once and only went the distance in two fights has an impressive seven, while the ‘Rocket’ has five including a National Elite crown won in 2019], Jaiden has some catching up to do.
Although, his older brother, a former pro who now competes in bare-knuckle boxing, believes he has the talent and drive to do just that.
Indeed, Reagan says his younger brother has Michael Conlan capabilities and could go on to be Irish boxing leading light not just the best of the Buckleys.
“He has the ability and talent to become the next Mick Conlan,” Buckley told Irish-boxing.com.
“If boxing in Ireland stays I honestly believe Jaiden will lead the way for the country in Europeans, Worlds, and Olympics. He’s that good, and only getting better with age.”
It’s not just his sibling’s talent that makes him stand out, Regan’s ‘star of future’ claims are also founded in his desire and work ethic.
“I’ve never seen a young lad work so hard, he has a dog mentality, up at 6:00 am every morning running the roads and he never gives less than 100% in training,” he adds before revealing how proud he was of the emerging talent.
“When Jaiden won the title I felt more joy than any one of my fights or title wins. He’d come up short in a few finals and he’s finally broken through that barrier now. I was fighting back the tears when he got the hand raised. He’s a credit to his own hard work and the hard work of my Dad.”
While boxing is prevalent in the Buckley household it’s not compulsory. The Buckley’s are encouraged to have something to focus on and keep them on the straight and narrow and with their father, Mark being a boxing coach and running St Teresa’s BC, it was natural for most to fall into the sweet science.
“We started in boxing to learn self-defence but straight away knew we had what it took to do well in the sport. You could say it’s in the blood. As we have a big family some didn’t want to box and some did. But even if we weren’t boxing we’d be doing some sort of sports,” Buckley continues.
“There’s never any pressure to box in the family but keeping off the streets and keeping focused on something productive was a big thing in our family and it’s stood to us very well as we got older. Boxing came very naturally. Myself and my two older sisters, Lisa and Zannah, were all Irish kickboxing champions and when we transitioned to boxing we took to it straight away. It kind of just took off from there. The younger siblings saw us training and fighting and wanted to do it too.
“We’re a big boxing house. We’re always preparing for some sort of fight or tournament. Huge support from both parents made it a lot easier to succeed, especially my Dad, who everyone knows trained us from kids up and made us the success that we became.”
There is also success outside the four Irish champions with Leinster and Dublin titles shared among three siblings who also laced up the gloves.
The youngest of the family is too young to compete but is named for boxing greatness.
“There are three sisters and one brother without Irish titles in the house. Two of the sisters, Denaragh and Shaina were both Leinster and Dublin champions. My brother Mark competed in the Leinsters as well but the three have interests that were outside of boxing. The youngest girl Taylor, named after Katie, is only eight so we’ll wait and see if she wants to box when she’s older!”
