‘A lovely sweet kid’: tributes paid to John Cooney after Irish boxer’s death

The Irish boxer John Cooney in 2023. He was ‘ambitious, determined and driven,’ said Barry McGuigan. ‘To have his life snapped away like that is just tragic.’ Photograph: Niall Carson/PA

John Cooney, the young Irish boxer who has died after a title fight in Belfast, has been described by the former world champion Barry McGuigan as a “lovely sweet kid” whose life was “snapped away”.

As a condolence book was opened at Belfast’s Ulster Hall, his manager Mark Dunlop said the death was “a complete tragedy”.