Kickboxing world champion receives top Limerick civic honour

A LOCAL world champion kickboxer has received one of Limerick's biggest civic honours.
Thomas McMahon, 15, from Castleconnell, but raised in Kennedy Park, was conferred with a special reception from outgoing mayor, Cllr Gerald Mitchell in what was one of the final acts of his year in office.
“You should be very proud of your achievements,” Limerick's first citizen said.
Earlier this year, Thomas travelled to Thailand to take part in the Amazing Muay Thai festival. The event, backed by the World Boxing Council was held in Bangkok.
Thomas, who trains at Eastside Muay Thai in Ballysimon Road, became the 53.5kg Youth World Champion for 2024 after downing an Australian opponent.
His father Thomas snr said: “His dedication to the sport is phenomenal. When we were in Thailand, he was up training at 5.30am. He'd run 10km, then go to bed again for an hour and be up again for breakfast.
“Then he'd be in the gym at 1pm, and you wouldn't see him again until nine o'clock that night. For such a young man, he really wanted to be world champion. To be sitting here today with this belt is just amazing.”
Despite only starting his kickboxing journey a little over two years ago, Thomas - a student at Newport College - has already won a raft of other medals and belts.
Among other things, he won the WBC Celtic Title in the under-16 category - the first Irish kickboxer to do this. He followed it up just 30 days later by winning the same title in a different weight category.
In doing so, he set a record for the shortest time between titles, and was recognised for this by the WBC.