Even knowing there was a chance he would never fight again, Conor Quinn was still in the gym twice a day in the hope he could return to his dream.

After returning home from Australia before the Covid-19 pandemic, the Belfast boxer was trying to get a licence with the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) to resume his promising professional career.

With two wins from his two outings as a pro, things were looking good for the 25-year-old. But his career would soon be brought to a halt.

When undergoing a brain scan as part of his licence, signs of a stroke were flagged up – much to Quinn’s surprise.

“There were signs of an old stroke, which I had never known about,” Quinn told BBC Sport NI.

“As a young lad wanting to come home and return to my professional career, it was devastating.

“They initially thought that had come from a knock to the head or a punch from boxing. When they are thinking that, they are not going to let you go and take another one.”

Quinn said the news was “devastating” and medical examinations led to the discovery of a hole in his heart, which in turn had led to the unknown stroke.

“It was a nightmare. Boxing is my whole life. All I want to do every day is get up and train to compete at the end of the month.

“Not being able to box, I was training all the time and you were entering a gym every day not knowing if you were wasting your time or not.

“We had done some investigations and we found it was coming from a hole in the heart, which I had never known that I had.

“I had heart surgery to get the hole closed. It was just before Covid and thankfully it wasn’t a major surgery.

“I was able to get back to training. I was told to take a couple of weeks off but five days later I was out running around the park.”