The teenage Carlisle boxer winning one title after another

John Joe interrupts. “When I win them…”

Ian smiles. “Well, we mustn’t take anything for granted. But that would give him the chance to go and box for England in the Europeans, in Romania. That’s his focus now.”

John Joe’s confidence is clear, but it is hardly misplaced. The 15-year-old has collected so many titles in recent times that Ian, before our meeting, has had to write them all down.

In 2022 alone there was the Angel of the North Box Cup, the national junior title, the Hull Box Cup, the Barum Box Cup and the Gripen Box Cup in Sweden, in which John Joe, as well as winning his category, was also named boxer of the tournament.

He was also champion, at 70kg level, in the National Association of Boys and Girls Clubs national championships. These many victories are reflected when, after we have finished chatting, John Joe heads off to prepare for some photographs.

He returns with so many medals clanking around his neck that it is a wonder he can raise his head. There are belts and, from a previous national success, a pair of golden gloves.

John Joe, from Todhills, Carlisle, says he loves the feeling of winning. “It’s unbelievable, isn’t it?” he says. “It’s the best feeling in the world. Once you’ve done it, you want it again.”

John Joe is not a boy of many words but his passion for boxing, and his ambitions, are clear when we talk in Border City ABC’s Shaddongate club. It is a club whose senior success story has been Ike Ogbo, the national amateur superheavyweight champion who is now part of the Great Britain set-up.

John Joe, 15, is put through his paces by Border City ABC's Ian Archibald (Image: News & Star)

John Joe, with his collection of silverware, is next in line. His coaches believe he has the quality and potential also to represent his country and 2023 will hopefully bring that to bear.

He says he has been obsessed with boxing from an early age. “I’ve been training all my life,” he says. “I started when I was seven. My cousin, Isaac, used to box.”

Coach Ian smiles, recalling the “small, tubby lad” who first came to practice at the Currock House club. “He came down and said he was ten. I think he was ten for four years…

“Back then this little lad didn’t know his right hand from his left hand, didn’t know where to stand. But he stuck at it. He travelled all over the country with us. If you look at every photo, he’s there with his hands up.”

John Joe says he always watched boxing on television and was drawn to stars like Tyson Fury. “He was just part of the team, part of the class, did what everyone else did,” adds Ian. “He stuck in, won his first five fights.”

The point he recognised boxing was something he wanted to take with full seriousness was, John Joe says, when, at 13, “I got my first national title.” That national cadet championship was followed by other schoolboy and junior titles.

Ian talks about the dedication all aspiring fighters must show. He says John Joe has it in spades. “Six days a week,” the 15-year-old says. “I’m down here [at the club] three days, jog six miles at home, and stuff in between that.

John Joe, right, won a host of titles in 2022 (Image: News & Star)

“This club has been unbelievable for me. I’ve learned everything here.”

John Joe is aware that boxing is not for every young person, or their families, but he says his family have been totally behind his love for a tough sport. “They love it. They’re very supportive. My dad comes to all my championships, sparring, the hotels we stay in.

“I want to do it. I’m not getting forced into it. I think I’ll always want to do it.”

Has there ever been a time when a teenage boy’s commitment to boxing has been tested? John Joe frowns. “Lockdown [in 2020] was hard. Trying to keep sharp. I just had to train at home, put my rope work in.”

The Covid shutdown affected most areas of life, not least amateur junior sport. “We were off for about ten weeks, and there were funny rules to observe when we came back,” Ian says. “We had a very good squad before that, and we’re still trying to rebuild it now.

“They just want to fight. ‘When’s my next fight?...’ We had two years between fights. John Joe’s on 30-odd bouts now, but without that he could have been on 50.”

It is testament to his passion for boxing that lockdown did not deter him, and 2022 was a golden year for John Joe. He says his personal highlight of the year was the Barum Box Cup in Devon, when he prevailed in the final against home boxer Findlay Lloyd.

“He didn’t box in that fight as such – it was a bit of a macho thing to start with – but he got back to his boxing in the third round,” Ian says.

Being named the best boxer at the Gripen tournament in Sweden was another high. “You can’t describe it,” John Joe says of the accolade. “It’s unbelievable.”

John Joe says he trains six days a week and wants to reach the top in boxing (Image: News & Star)

John Joe repeats that “winning” is his driving motivation in a sport where pain is always around the corner. “It’s one of the hardest sports you can get. It’s the chance you take. You just have to keep moving.”

“Hit and move,” he says, is his biggest strength in the ring. “He’s got a style,” adds Ian, “where he’s on his toes, and you don’t know where the shots are coming from. He’s orthodox, but then switches to southpaw and the other lads are just bamboozled. He’s naturally good at it now.”

Ian has long been an advocate of John Joe’s potential to box for England. This year’s national junior championships ought to light that path. “I’ve been in touch with the England coaches, and they said there has been a few changes there. They just said, ‘Make sure he wins…’ but even if he gets to the final and gets beat, he’ll still get to go down [with England].

“In the last weekend in March we’ll know if he’s national champion again, and then that’s him on the England pathway, in the Europeans and tri-nations.”

John Joe says it would be “really exciting” to wear the England vest. What are his biggest ambitions in boxing?

The answer shoots back. “Be world champion.”

There is no doubting his determination. “I’m not a betting man, but I’ve always said, ‘Watch this lad’,” adds Ian. “His name’s getting around the boxing circles. And he puts the work in.

John Joe Carrigan is hoping to catch the eye of England coaches this year (Image: News & Star)

“We have a club Strava for the running they do, and on the leaderboard, he’s way out in front. Some of the little ones are looking up to him now.”

John Joe says he also looks up to boxers like Ogbo, with whom he worked during the latter’s time at Border City. “I’ve done a lot of sparring and work with him. I just want to try and do what people like him do, try and do better.”

Ian says the super-heavyweight Ogbo was taken by John Joe’s ability. “Ike’s a lot heavier, but John Joe did well against him. Even Ike was saying, ‘Oooh..’ – he winces, indicating the effect of the youngster’s punching power.

That power is soon on display when, after our interview is over and photos taken, John Joe steps into the ring. A number of Border City’s other young boxers are now here and John Joe, when not skipping, performing press-ups or shadow boxing, is doing pad work with his coaches.

It is a freezing night in Carlisle but there is heat in John Joe’s punching. Of Cumbria’s many bright young sports people, here, in 2023, is undoubtedly one to watch.