TEENAGE boxer Lilly Deacon has returned to West Yorkshire with a golf medal under her belt after an extremely successful trip the United States.
The Queensbury native competed at the Under-19 World Championships, between October 25 and November 5, and she saw off two opponents to claim gold.
The tournament itself took place in Pueblo, Colorado, with 18-year-old Deacon one of just 11 English boxers to be selected for her country.
In the semi-final she overcame Italian fighter Giulia Molinaro (October 29) to win by unanimous decision, before she beat Indian boxer Akansha Phalaswal in the final by way of majority decision (November 1).
Deacon - who was competing in the Under 70kg section - a step up from the 63-66kg category she was in when she won a bronze medal at the European Junior Championships in Italy back in 2022, spoke to the T&A following her success.
She said: "Going out to America to fight was a really good experience.
"My two opponents from the competition were from Italy and India, so it gave me different types of challenges."
She added: "Of course, I was nervous for the fights because it was such a big deal going over to America for the bouts.
"However, I had full confidence in my ability to go and get the job done because I'd worked extremely hard in the lead up to this trip and left no stone unturned.
"I'm thankful that I got the win, which was right up there with one of my best achievements in my career so far."
Reflecting on her toughest bout out of the two, Deacon said: "My opponent in the final (Akansha Phalaswal) proved to be the toughest because she was already a world champion at amateur level.
"She had a lot of skill but her toughness stood out to me. She was strong and kept coming at me."
Deacon trains at Platinum Boxing Club in Queensbury, which is run by her father John, who also spoke to the T&A in the lead up to the trip.
He could hardly hide his pride in his daughter, but he wanted to ensure the whole club got the recognition it deserved.
He said: “It’s not just me, all of the coaches at Platinum have done a fantastic job with Lilly and our other boxers.
"We’ve got other talented young prospects at the club too.
“Siobhan Haley’s just won the Box-Am competition in Spain for England, and she has European medals at Schoolgirl and Junior level.
“There’s also John Elham, who’s only 12, but he’s already a two-time national champion and he’s won all 33 of his career bouts.
“We’ve got so many kids coming through and I just wanted to give them all a mention, I didn’t want to leave anyone out.”
Deacon, 18, is hoping to make her way into the Team GB fold in the coming months, as she is expected to be invited for a trial day following her recent achievements.
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