{"id":236007,"date":"2025-10-23T21:44:15","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T21:44:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/236007\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T21:44:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T21:44:15","slug":"lewis-crocker-belfast-boxing-champion-reflects-on-dream-come-true-as-city-hall-hosts-celebration-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/236007\/","title":{"rendered":"Lewis Crocker: Belfast boxing champion reflects on ‘dream come true’ as City Hall hosts celebration event"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lewis Crocker won the World Welterweight title last month after defeating rival Paddy Donovan in front of a sold-out Windsor Park.<\/p>\n

Crocker knocked the Limerick man down twice over the course of a gripping 12-round contest, the second between the two fighters this year, and was ultimately awarded the victory by split decision.<\/p>\n

\"Lord<\/p>\n

Lord Mayor of Belfast, Councillor Tracy Kelly, with IBF World Welterweight Champion Lewis Crocker<\/p>\n

The victory led to an outpouring of joy in the city and congratulations from elected representatives from across the political spectrum<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On Thursday night, Lord Mayor of Belfast Tracy Kelly hosted a special reception at City Hall to recognise Crocker\u2019s achievements.<\/p>\n

The event, presented by Ruth Gorman, saw coaches, volunteers and young boxers from clubs across the city gather together to celebrate the south Belfast boxer\u2019s historic victory.<\/p>\n

Crocker, who is from Sandy Row, was joined by his manager Jamie Conlan to talk about the next steps on his journey and to share stories from his rise to the top, including time spent in clubs across the city honing his skills.<\/p>\n

Both men took questions from the audience at the event, which included young male and female boxers from Sandy Row and Holy Trinity Amateur Boxing clubs. where Crocker trained as an amateur.<\/p>\n

\"Young<\/p>\n

Young boxer Lewis Morrow from Cairn Lodge Boxing Club joins IBF World Welterweight Champion Lewis Crocker at a special civic reception in City Hall<\/p>\n

Ms Kelly said: \u201cI\u2019m so pleased to host this special event for Lewis and give his achievements the recognition they deserve.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve known the Crocker family for many years, and they epitomise everything that\u2019s great about sport in our city \u2013 the hard work and selflessness of parents, volunteers and coaches to lift young people up and help them achieve their dreams.<\/p>\n

\u201cLewis is such a positive role model, particularly for young boys living in working class communities where barriers to education, sport and wellbeing can still be a real issue. He shows that, if you work hard enough at something, you really can make your dreams come true.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis words to boxers from clubs city-wide tonight have been inspirational \u2013 let\u2019s hope this is the first of many more sporting victories for our young athletes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Young<\/p>\n

Young boxers Ethan Hoy and Charlie Kidd (Taughmonagh Young Men’s Academy) and Sean McGarry and Cayden Collins (Holy Trinity Boxing Club) join Lord Mayor of Belfast, Councillor Tracy Kelly, and IBF World Welterweight Champion Lewis Crocker, at a special civic reception in City Hall<\/p>\n

News Catch Up – Thursday 23 October <\/p>\n

Lewis Crocker said: \u201cIt\u2019s always special to be at events like this. Growing up in Sandy Row, you don\u2019t think you\u2019re going to be coming to City Hall to speak to young kids and other boxers about your journey, so I\u2019m thankful and grateful to be here.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a long journey to become world champion, a lot of sacrifices have been made to make it to this point, and I\u2019m already starting to focus on what I need to do to make it to the next stage of my career.<\/p>\n

\u201cWinning the world title in Windsor Park was a dream come true, and I truly believe everything happens for a reason. That night confirmed it for me \u2013 how the first fight played out, then the size of the rematch, and the world title being on the line\u2026 it all just worked out perfectly.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lewis Crocker won the World Welterweight title last month after defeating rival Paddy Donovan in front of a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":236008,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,141440,802,141441,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-236007","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-belfast-city-council","11":"tag-boxing","12":"tag-liam-tunney","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236007\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}