IRELAND’S YOUNGEST PROFESSIONAL boxer James Power will head back to where it all began when he takes to the ring for the fifth time in the punch-for-pay ranks in Tijuana on 30 November.
The Cork puncher earned two quick knockouts in the same Mexican city in September and November of last year when, as a 17-year-old, he was too young to apply for an Irish boxing licence.
Power has in the intervening year bagged two more stoppage victories in Hungary to move to 4-0(4KOs) — one of them on the eve of his Leaving Cert Irish oral exam. But he earned a significant points win outside of the ring too: the former Coachford College student recently revealed to Irish-boxing.com that he got almost 500 of them in the toughest test of his academic career to date.
Power has put college on hold, however, to further his boxing education. He has relocated to California for the autumn and winter where he is being facilitated by the Sheer Sports management group — the West Coast-based outfit who steer the careers of Donegal middleweight Jason Quigley, his fellow county man Brett McGinty, and Monaghan’s McKenna brothers.
Power is yet to formalise any deal with Sheer Sports but has been training for the past few weeks under their affiliated coach, South African former heavyweight contender Courage Tshabalala, who is also chief second to McKennas Aaron (9-0, 5KOs) and Stevie (4-0, 4KOs).
Tshabala will man the Dripsey native’s corner when he fights on the Noches De Boxeo boxing card at the end of this month seeking a fifth straight stoppage victory.
