Mitchel crowned British boxing champion
Mitchel recently won the GB Three Nations Junior Championship and is set to study sport at Coleg Menai in Llangefni
Mitchel Jones is set to return to Coleg Menai in September having been recently crowned GB Three Nations Junior champion.
The 16-year-old from Bangor represented Wales in the GB Championship, having won the Welsh championship three times.
He won the GB title in his first attempt at the competition, beating national champions from England and Scotland in the 70kg category.
Mitchel, who is about to start a BTEC Diploma in Sport at the Llangefni campus, said: “I’ve never competed in that competition before so it was a new experience for me.
“I was confident because I trained hard enough for it, but to be honest I was happy just to be selected to go to it.
“I was a bit nervous as it was a big opportunity that I’d been waiting for for a long time, but I was excited to compete more than anything.”
Mitchel trains with Llandudno Amateur Boxing Club, and has previously won the HSK Denmark Box Cup Champion and Manchester Box Cup. He also hopes to fight in this year’s Emerald BoxCup in Dublin.
He recently attended a training camp in Spain with the Welsh development team, and his next goal is to represent Wales in the European Championships.
Mitchel hopes to progress into the Wales elite squad, and said his British Championship win has helped him set his sights higher.
“Now that I’ve won the British and been selected to represent my country I’ve realised I can go further with it,” he said.
“At the moment my goal is to box in the European Championships. But I’d love to compete in the Commonwealths, maybe even in the Olympics.”
Mitchel has been at Coleg Menai for two years, having completed Level 1 Pathway to Construction Skills at the college while still a student at Ysgol Friars.
So he is already familiar with the Llangefni campus where he will be studying sport, and believes the course will be a big boost to his boxing ambitions.
“The college has been really good,” he said. “When I went for an interview, they said if I have to go away because of boxing, for example for a competition or a training camp, that I’ll be able to fit my studies around that. So if I want to pursue my boxing and take it seriously, it will be a big help to be able to fit it around college.
“I did construction for two years, so I’ve got used to college. I enjoyed that but doing the sports coaching will suit me more, I think I’ll really enjoy the course.”
Mitchel is sponsored by The Slate Restaurant Tal y Bont, Surfacing Experts Ltd, Bangor Tyres, Zac Laraman sports osteopath and Deion Homme Barbers.
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