Castlebar star John has the world at his feet

THE CONNAUGHT TELEGRAPH YOUNG SPORTSTARS OF THE YEAR NO. 8:

 

AT the age of 14, Castlebar’s John McDonagh is a world champion.

John won the title against some fairly stiff opposition at the Savate Cadets World Cup in Varaždinske Toplice in Croatia.

John has been training in savate for the last five years and for the last four of those years he has remained undefeated in the sport.

He has earned titles including the Budapest Savate Open 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017, the Irish Savate Open 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016, and the Trophée de l’Eure 2014, 2015 and 2016.

He won the inaugural Northern Ireland Savate Open 2017, the inaugural Belgian Savate Open 2016 as well as collecting awards such as Best Cadet Male Boxer of the tournament at the Paris Savate Open 2014.

With all of this experience and ability behind him John opened his World Cup challenge by defeating three opponents in a row on the first day, securing himself a place in the finals the next day against the Croatian contender.

Fighting the finals in the main ring of the arena he took a unanimous decision from all five judges around the ring, simply outclassing his opponent over the three rounds.