YORK is set to soon have another professional boxer - and he comes heavily endorsed by former world champion contender Henry Wharton.

George Davey trains at Henry's Gym under Wharton and is planning on turning pro before the end of the year.

The 21-year-old won gold at the Haringey Box Cup over three days in June, bringing up his half-century of fights.

By mid-December, he has his sights set on gold medals at three more box cups, after which he will make the move - and he has no doubts he will achieve his aim.

"I've always wanted to turn pro," Davey said. "It was a dream of mine as a kid.

"I'm absolutely confident, especially after my last performance."

The box cup at Alexandra Palace was structured as a straight quarter-final knock-out competition.

Davey beat Camberley's Mark Parrott and London-based Simeon Hepburn - both by unanimous decision - before taking the top prize against namesake Tom Davey by technical knock-out in front of a healthy crowd.

"I felt really good," he said. "Friday was more of a warm-up - getting through the first days is always the hardest.

"Saturday I felt brilliant and Sunday I was confident, I knew I was going to win.

"There was a good turnout. There was all of my gym-mates, a few more from York, a lot of friends of friends."

Untroubled by the numbers watching, Davey added: "If anything, it makes you want to fight harder to not disappoint them."

For Davey's successes in London, trainer Wharton has nothing but praise, saying: "When you look at the likes of the Americans, they take a big squad over, boasting about this and that, and they went away with no medals. Team Canada went away with no medals.

"It's one guy taking on the elite of world boxing. It's a great achievement.

"It caps off his achievements of the last few years. On top of Eindhoven (last year), it just gets better and better.

"His future is to go pro and I urge the York people to get behind him."

Born in York, Davey moved with his parents to Lanzarote, where he started boxing during his 17 years on the Spanish island. He moved back to the Minster city four years ago looking to progress in his pugilistic pursuits and joined Henry's Gym in Acomb.

On working with Wharton - who had two world title fights in 1994 and one three years later - Davey said: "It's unbelievable the amount of knowledge he has, it's incredible.

"It's good to have someone with that experience because they know what you're going through, they know when to push you and when not.

"It's incredible to have someone like that, definitely."

Davey's amateur record is 75 per cent successful, losing only a dozen of the 50 fights he has contested - but the rising star shows a good attitude towards such blemishes.

"You learn from your defeats," he said. "You come back stronger and you train harder.

"I've made a couple of bad decisions, but that comes with the sport at the end of the day.

"You have to be positive, you can't let defeats knock you down."

Davey's coming three box cups take place in the Netherlands (October), Sweden (November) and Portugal (December).

Optimistic about Davey's future, Wharton added: "I think he's something special and he could go all the way.

"He's 110 per cent boxing, that's where he wants to go with it.

"It shows dedication has a stronghold and I think it urges all boxers to get out there and force their hand.

"He's got all the attributes to make it. It really bodes well for the city, to have a stronghold in the boxing world."