IT IS not often you get one of your sporting idols sliding into your DMs, but that is exactly what happened to Ross Cooksey recently.

The Barrow featherweight became a father earlier this month, with him and his fiancee deciding on the name Derry for their son – partly because she has family from the Northern Irish city and partly because Derry Mathews was one of Cooksey’s favourite boxers growing up.

So it was a nice surprise when the former British and Commonwealth lightweight champion got in touch via a private message on Instagram to wish him all the best and offer some encouragement.

“I’m not sure how he found out I’d called him Derry, but he sent me a message saying all the best and things, mentioned the name and put a laughing face, and said ‘time to win some titles for your son’,” said Cooksey.

“Stuff like that, I was a fan of Derry Mathews so it was quite nice.”

His impending fatherhood meant the 26-year-old’s professional boxing career took something of a back seat in 2018, although he still managed to get two contests in and extended his unbeaten record to six fights.

Having won all four rounds against tricky ex-Army man Ricky Starkie last May, Cooksey then stepped up to six round and put in what he believes is his best performance to date, knocking Nicaraguan Elvis Gullen down in the first round and surviving a cut above his eye to seal a points win.

“I would have liked to have got another fight and maybe stepped up to eight by the end of the year, but sometimes you’ve just got to go with how sometimes life is,” said Cooksey.

“I always say to people it would be different if boxing way your full-time job because you wouldn’t think about anything else

“I don’t want to sound like I’m picking and choosing when I fight, because that’s not the case, but if you’re a full-time pro and that’s your income it makes sense to fight more often.

“It’s just the way at the minute, but you never how far you’re going to go with boxing and we’ll see.”

Having secured a training base closer to home at Johnney Roye’s Preston and signed a promotional deal with MTK Global, Cooksey is aiming to kickstart his career in 2019.

He will be training alongside fellow Barrow ABC graduates Mike McGoldrick and Liam Conroy, with the latter in particular proving an inspiration to Cooksey after earning a long-awaited shot at the British title next month.

“He’s showing everyone who takes part in boxing in the town you can get places in boxing being from Barrow,” said Cooksey.

“It was him who made me want to turn pro and after he started winning a couple of titles maybe I could do that.

“We achieved similar things in the amateurs so I think ‘why can’t I do it?’ Watching Liam gives me confidence to think one day I could get as far as he has got.”