OXFORD’S fledgling fighter Jordan Flynn has been given the thumbs up by former world champion Frank Bruno.

The 21-year-old is back in the ring after an off-season break and could not have started his year any better.

Lightweight Flynn beat Mark Butler on a unanimous decision at a Legends of Boxing evening at the Manor of Groves Hotel in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, earlier this month.

And last week he retained his Home Counties title, with an impressive victory over Blackbird Leys ABC’s Daniel Robinson in Milton Keynes.

It was at the charity event in Hertfordshire when Flynn caught the eye of Bruno and the 1995 WBC heavyweight champion tipped the Oxfordshire fighter to have a bright future.

The Cowley boxer said: “He pulled me over and said ‘that was a good fight’.

“He told me he was impressed and to keep up the hard work and go all the way.

“I said to him ‘I didn’t think I performed well’, but he said ‘you can put that behind you, you got the win and you won easy, you can do well’.”

But Flynn was not fully aware he was receiving compliments from a man, who took on the likes of Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis in his heyday.

He said: “I didn’t know who it was to start with, he seemed like a normal guy and I just wanted to go and see my family.

“But someone said to me ‘do you know who that was? It was Frank Bruno’.

“Those are the kind of compliments you want to hear. I just need to keep working hard.”

Flynn, who trains at Hoddesdon ABC, Hertfordshire, has his sights set on challenging for a place in the Great Britain team for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

He heads into the new season on the back of an impressive year, which saw him reach the finals weekend of the Elite Championships in April.

Flynn also recorded eye-catching wins over Scottish No 1 Nathaniel Collins and Italian champion Karol Kummer.

He has enjoyed a good month back in training, which included a three-day camp with the England team in Tamworth, before beating Butler and Robinson.

Flynn said: “We sparred and they were seeing how everyone was after the break.

“They were looking at everyone and they put me within the top three boxers in the camp.”

He added: “It’s good to come back on top and I need to keep the wins going.”

Flynn was particularly impressive against Robinson, comfortably winning all three rounds to earn a unanimous victory.

He said: “I think I only got caught two or three times.

“So I did a pretty good job in showing everyone I’m a different class from any other boxer in the home counties.”