Meet the County Down boxer being compared to Carl Frampton

Meet the County Down boxer being tipped to follow in the footsteps of Carl Frampton.

Teenager Dylan Eagleson flexed his already burgeoning reputation by winning the Irish Under 22 Championships at the National Stadium in Dublin recently.

The 18-year-old boxes out of St Paul's ABC in West Belfast under coach Ralph McKay.

And while he is still in the fledgling stages of his career, McKay believes Eagleson has all the talent and charisma to become a fans' favourite.

"Dylan won the Under 22s and was then selected to go down to the elite centre at Abbottstown in Dublin," McKay told Belfast Live.

"He has also been called in by the high-performance unit based at Jordanstown and is on the panel for the Commonwealth Games. He fights at the same weight (54kg) as another St Paul's boxer, Brendan Irvine, so these Games might not happen for him.

"But if anything happens to Brendan then I am confident Dylan would be the perfect replacement.

Eagleson, from Bangor, has been with St Paul's for around seven year, and his recent success in Dublin saw the talented teen claim his fourth Irish title with the West Belfast club.

"He had no Irish titles before he came to us, and now he has won four," McKay added.

"He won the Under 18s before lockdown which was a good step up for him. He was only 16-and-a-half-years-old, so he was young when he won it. But then lockdown arrived and stalled things for him.

"He would have fought at the European Youths, but that tournament was knocked on the head because of the pandemic. That probably set him back two years.

"We got him training during lockdown, but it was difficult, as if was for every boxer.

"We got Dylan a punch bag for down the side of his house, and we got him down doing wee runs on the beach.