“I Was the Proudest Man in the World” – Donoghue Has Eyes On Los Angeles After European Gold

John Donoghue is quickly becoming a cant miss prospect.

The Olympic BC Mullingar prospect has already collected a World Junior title, a European Junior title and an Irish U19 championship, but his latest achievement may be the most impressive. Donoghue has just returned from Loznica, Serbia, with U19 European gold at 70kg, stopping his Georgian opponent in the final after overcoming Russian opposition on his route to the championship.

For a boxer who has only recently moved up to 70kg, it was another impressive statement on the international stage and one that raises an obvious question: could Ireland have another future star of the amateur game on its hands?

It is still too early to answer that definitively. However, Donoghue’s record is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. He won the World Junior Championships in Armenia in 2023, followed that with European Junior gold in 2024, became Irish U19 champion in 2026 and has now added another European title to the collection.

The remarkable thing is that this success was not necessarily something Donoghue was destined for when he first walked into a boxing gym.

He was introduced to the sport by his father, who wanted him to learn how to protect himself, but boxing initially struggled to compete with his love of football. Donoghue trained for around a year before deciding to leave the sport and concentrate on football instead.

“I didn’t like it at the start. I trained for about a year and then left to play football. At the time I preferred football much more as a kid,” he explained.

After a year away, however, he decided to give boxing another chance. This time the outcome was very different. “I came back after a year to give it one more go and then ended up loving it, so decided to stop playing football and continue with boxing.”

It proved to be a fairly significant decision.

Since then, Donoghue has established himself as one of the most accomplished young fighters in Irish boxing, while his performances internationally have suggested that his ambitions should extend well beyond junior honours.

Interestingly, he does not identify one particular boxing hero when asked about the fighters he admired growing up. Instead, his interest lies firmly in the amateur game, particularly the technically renowned boxing nations.

“To be honest, I don’t really have a boxing hero. I watch a lot of amateur boxing, mostly Kazakhstan, and learn off them. That’s about it,” he said.

That approach should serve him well as he begins to move towards senior boxing. The junior game has already given Donoghue the opportunity to compete against some of the best fighters in his age group, but the level of opposition and experience he will encounter in the senior ranks will provide an entirely different challenge.

His latest European campaign in Loznica demonstrated that he is comfortable in that international environment. Donoghue came through a strong field on his way to the final, including a victory over Russia’s Egor Skarednev, before facing Georgia’s Akaki Basaria in the gold-medal bout.

There was no nervous wait for the judges at the end of the contest. Donoghue stopped Basaria to become European champion, adding another significant international title to a collection.

For Donoghue, however, the achievement was about more than another medal. Standing on the top step of the podium while representing Ireland carried a significance that clearly meant a great deal to him.

“I was the proudest man in the world. It’s an honour to represent your country but it’s even better when you win a gold medal for your country,” he said. “Knowing you’ve trained so hard and it paid off makes it even better.”

There was one small problem to what was otherwise a perfect championships, however. Donoghue admitted that he did not know all the words to the Irish national anthem.

“I need to actually learn the anthem because I don’t know all of it, but I’ll learn it for the next one.”

If Donoghue has his way, there could be plenty more podiums in his future.

The next challenge is to become number one in Ireland at 70kg, a division that already contains some very talented boxers. Jon McConnell, Roy Colgan and Cian Cramer are among those operating around the weight, meaning Donoghue will have plenty of competition domestically as he attempts to establish himself in the senior ranks.

Yet when asked about those names and whether he is already looking towards the Elite Championships, his response was characteristically focused.

“Yes, they are all great but I don’t really look into them. I mostly make sure I’m ready and I’m at my best, and I believe if I’m at my best I will give anybody in the world problems.”

It is a confident answer, but one that is backed by considerable evidence. Donoghue has already shown that he can handle high-level international competition and he is looking towards the next stage of his development.

That next stage will be senior boxing, where the competition will be greater and the margins for error considerably smaller.

The transition from being a successful junior to becoming an elite senior is one of the biggest challenges any amateur boxer can face. Plenty of fighters who dominate at youth level find themselves struggle to recreate the same success at elite level. For Donoghue, the coming years will therefore be about much more than adding medals to his collection. They will be about developing physically, adapting to better compeition and proving that the qualities which have made him successful as a junior can translate against established senior fighters.

His ambitions, though, are already clear.

With the Los Angeles Olympics now two years away, Donoghue has no hesitation when asked whether that is the ultimate target.

“Yes, my goal is to get on the plane to LA. It will be hard but I will be ready,” he said.

The path towards Los Angeles will begin with the Irish Elite Championships and the domestic battles that come with attempting to establish yourself as the country’s number one fighter in a highly competitive weight class. Donoghue understands that he cannot simply rely on what he has achieved as a junior.

“Every competition now is just a stepping stone to the elite championships.”

That mentality could be just as important as his ability inside the ring. Donoghue has already achieved more at junior level than most young boxers could hope for, but he appears to understand that none of those accomplishments guarantee success as a senior.

What they do provide is a foundation.

A World Junior title showed that he could compete at the highest level of his age group. European gold the following year reinforced it. His Irish U19 championship demonstrated his standing domestically, while his latest European success at 70kg has provided another indication that he can continue to perform after moving up in weight.

The next chapter will tell us considerably more.

There is no shortage of young talent in Irish boxing, and it would be premature to place the burden of expectation on Donoghue by declaring him the country’s next great amateur before he has properly established himself at elite level. Boxing careers rarely follow a straight line, and the move from junior to senior can change everything.

But there is also no denying that Donoghue has earned the right to be considered one of the most exciting young fighters coming through. His achievements speak for themselves.

For now, the target is the Elite Championships and establishing himself as Ireland’s best. Beyond that lies Los Angeles in 2028, an ambition that the Mullingar boxer is not afraid to put into words.

“It will be hard but I will be ready.”

For a fighter who initially walked away from boxing because football was more appealing, Donoghue has already come a remarkably long way. The medals he has won as a junior are proof of what he has achieved so far, but the next two years will determine whether those medals become the early chapters of an even bigger story.

Ireland has seen plenty of talented amateurs come through its gyms over the years. The truly great ones go on to wear the Irish vest at the Olympics. John Donoghue now has that opportunity and the talent to be Ireland’s next great amateur.