COACH Tony Borg says Jamie Cox can only benefit from being surrounded by like-minded people at his St Joseph’s gym, writes Matthew Davies.

Cox, who hails from Swindon, has suffered a stagnated career of late but is due to return to the ring on Saturday, May 9 at Cardiff’s Motorpoint Arena.

His eight-round contest in the Welsh capital will be the first time the 33-year-old has stepped foot in a ring for two years.

However, the super-middleweight, who opted to join forces with Borg after suffering a knockout defeat to George Groves in October 2017, is looking to work his way back into title contention this year.

Cox joins Welsh stars and stablemates Lee Selby and Gavin Gwynne on the Matchroom bill, while former St Joes favourite Sean McGoldrick also features.

Borg, who coaches Cox Selby and Gwynne, says all three bring different attributes and strengths to his Newport gym.

“Gavin is on the card, Lee is obviously on there and then Jamie is on there too,” he said.

“All of the guys have different styles and they’re all different weights, so they all bring something different to the gym.

“Lee’s dedicated, he wasn’t as a kid, so he shows what can be done when you put your mind to it.

“Gavin loves to train and fight, and Jamie has been schooled well, he has been knocking everyone over so is a massive puncher.

“Jamie could be sat there thinking, ‘what would I be like if I was a bit more like Lee’ and Lee would be thinking ‘what would I be like if I hit as hard as Jamie or loved to train like Gavin’.

“They all have something positive going for them.”

Southpaw Cox currently has two defeats to his name after being beaten by both Groves and John Ryder.

Having watched Ryder flourish in the last 18 months, Borg says a lot of people were wrong to write off Cox after that loss to the Londoner in May 2018.

“If you look at what Groves has done in his career and then you look at what Ryder has done since he fought Jamie, his record isn’t as bad as what people thought at the time,” he added.

“He didn’t get beaten by a journeyman, he got beaten at the highest level, so I don’t think it looks as damaging as it did at the time.”