'Young man chasing dreams' - tributes paid to John Cooney

The boxing world has been stunned by the death of Galway boxer John Cooney, with tributes to the 28-year-old pouring in from professional and amateur boxers.

Fellow professional boxer and Galway native Kieran Molloy described him as "a fantastic boxer, a young man just chasing his dreams."

Last weekend, Cooney was seeking to defend his Celtic super-featherweight championship title in a fight against Welshman Nathan Howells at the Ulster Hall in Belfast.

The contest was stopped in the ninth round and following a medical assessment John Cooney was transferred to Belfast's Royal Victoria Hospital.

He had suffered an intracranial haemorrhage.

News broke yesterday that he had died.

"Every time a professional boxer steps through those ropes, you know your life is on the line, and its just tragic when stuff like this does happen," Molloy said.

In April 2023, Cooney fought Sandeep Singh Bhatti in Galway on Molloy's undercard.

From there he went on to win the Celtic title with a first-round win over Liam Gaynor in November 2023 at the 3Arena in Dublin on Katie Taylor's undercard.

"He was on the verge of some very big fights" Molloy said, "he'd a huge future ahead of him and he was a very proud Galway man."

"I just want to send my condolences to John's family and his fiancée Emmaleen," he added.

At amateur boxing club, Club Dornálaíochta Chonamara, trainer Micheál Ó Domhnaill said news of Cooney's death was "just shocking".

"It's hard to believe how it ended for John, because he was in the prime of his career, you know he was a fit young man."

Posting a picture of himself posing alongside Cooney on X, former world featherweight champion Barry McGuigan said it was "such a tragedy to loose [sic] this fine young boxer".

Speaking on BBC radio he