New Astley Boxing Club fighter Luke Ring through to National Schoolboy Championship semi-finals after victory over West Ham Boxing Club’s Santino Cianciola

New Astley Boxing Club head coach Mark O’Reilly believes that the sky is the limit for Luke Ring after the youngster emphatically booked his place in the semi-finals of this weekend’s National Schoolboy Championships.

Saturday’s quarter-final in London represented a step up in class for Red Lodge-based Ring, who went into his bout against Santino Cianciola of West Ham Boxing Club with a record of four wins from five fights.

Cianciola also had plenty of support in his home city, but Ring took it all in his stride to register a unanimous points decision victory.

“That’s the best I’ve seen Luke – he was outstanding,” said O’Reilly, who trains his fighters at The Racing Centre in Newmarket.

“I’d heard the kid from West Ham was decent but he was even better than I had been told.

“He was a real favourite, there was a massive cheer when he came into the ring and you could feel the expectation. But Luke dealt with it brilliantly.

“It was one of the best performances I’ve seen in a long time. He won all three rounds and no matter what the kid threw at him, Luke dealt with it.”

And while it was a technically assured performance from the Mildenhall College Academy pupil, what particularly impressed O’Reilly was the teenager’s ability to deal with the size of the occasion from a mental perspective.

O’Reilly added: “His temperament was outstanding. He’s a calm kid that has confidence in himself so he doesn’t nerve up.

“He took it all in his stride and I think he was actually looking forward to it. You never know with youngsters how they will react to these types of events, but Luke was as calm as it gets.

“He had to sit there all day and watch it as well. We arrived at 9.30am and he didn’t get in the ring until gone 5pm, so to perform how he did was just unbelievable.”

Ring will now contest Saturday’s semi-final in Newcastle against Jackson Daws of Newark, and the hope is that he is able to progress through to the final 24 hours later.

And as far as O’Reilly is concerned, it will take a very good opponent to get the better of his fighter.

“I’m not worried who he comes up against,” said the coach. “After watching him last weekend I think he’s capable of taking on anyone.

“His performance will have sent out a message to everyone else in the competition and I think they’ll be worried about facing Luke.

“It’s amazing for our club to have a schoolboy go this far – it must be more than 10 years.”