In Your Corner: Knockout report for Monkstown boxing scheme

That is something Ryan backs up.

“I wasn’t a bad kid in school but I just never really had the attention span,” he said.

“I would have been taking days off or I’d have been telling my mum I was going to school and I wouldn’t have been going to school.

“Ever since the day I walked through the doors of the boxing club I felt welcomed.”

Ryan said he “turned round”; his attendance at school improved dramatically and he ended up several GCSEs.

He admits that, at one stage, that had seemed impossible.

“In fourth year, I was off-track completely,” he said.

But the combination of learning, boxing and keeping fit changed Ryan’s outlook and his life.

“Here I am, six or seven years later, training five times a week and now working full-time,” he said.

Ryan has just got a job as a youth worker, including working at the boxing club.

“I’ll be helping the young ones coming over from the school and any support that they need I’m going to be there,” he said.

What will he be telling young people in danger of losing their way like he once was?

“Just to show up and to be open minded and to give it their best shot.”