Chesterfield boxing champion aged 8 who trained with Tyson Fury set to represent UK at international tournament

Caden ‘Tornado’ James, aged eight, of Chesterfield has been picked to represent England at the 8th International Eduard and Oleksandr Pogodin Cup in Ukraine in May this year.

Caden, who will fly to Ukraine alongside his dad, took up boxing when he was four and since then has won 56 titles, including 13 world records.

His dad Stuart, 48, said: "He is one in a million, he is a very gifted little boy in every single way. He is very confident and clever, top of his class for Maths and English, excels at PE and is one of the best junior boxers in the country. He is a little star and he is thriving.

“I’m very proud of him. He was picked to go to Ukraine and fight in one of their master biggest tournaments. It's a massive, massive opportunity. No eight-year-old boy from our country has ever had an opportunity like this before.

"It’s important to say he will raise money for a very important cause – as funds from the tournament will help soldiers of Ukraine who are fighting for their country.”

Caden, who is currently North East Junior Boxing Champion and East Midlands Junior Boxing Champion has trained with world-famous boxers before, including Tyson Fury and Ricky Hatton.

He attends his boxing training at North Wingfield Boxing Academy run by his dad three times a week after school and on top of that trains in Manchester every weekend.

He often posts videos of his sessions online with great success – as he has almost 15,000 followers on Instagram and over 100 000 likes on Tik Tok.

Thanks to his social media accounts he regularly works with Robin Reid, a former professional boxer who won bronze at the Olympics as an amateur in 1992.

Stuart said: “Robin Reid saw Caden on Instagram and invited him for a training session with him. Now they train together every month. Robin is the one who gave him his nickname ‘Torando’ because he is very fast and he turns around quickly.”

Boxing is Caden’s greatest passion that has helped to constantly grow his confidence and get out of his shell after he spent some time in care in 2017. But he has many more hobbies than boxing – he loves football and sprinting and is a councillor at his school. He has even been offered a 12-week course at Manchester City training academy last autumn but had to turn it down, as it would affect his boxing training.

Caden, who lives with his brothers, sister, dad, and dad’s partner in Chesterfield, attends Charlie Park School in Clay Cross, which supports his career. He often represents his school at sports events and enjoys sport trips.

Stuart added: “Charlie Park School is supporting him a lot and allowing him to take time off school for tournaments, giving him work to do to catch up. We are very thankful for their support.”