Get to know Junior Olympic boxing champion, La Grange area resident Axel Cooper

LA GRANGE, Ga. — To outsiders, Axel Cooper seemed like a typical six-year-old focused on sports and video games. Indeed, few could have predicted his meteoric rise and transformation into a Junior Olympic boxing champion.

Cooper, who currently ranks sixth in the nation for his boxing class, made an unassuming start to his athletic career. After watching a match on TV with his father, Chad Cooper, the young Axel expressed interest in becoming a boxer himself.

It was a decision to which the elder Cooper gave much consideration. As the months passed, his excitement grew, and he began searching for boxing gyms in the Atlanta area.

He little expected to find one so close to home.

“I discovered Back 2 Basics here in LaGrange,” said Cooper, who noted at the gym is owned and operated by Randy Hardaway.

The longtime coach was not immediately sold on training Axel.

“I don’t usually take on kids his age,” he said of then-six-year-old Axel. Hardaway soon relented and agreed to train Axel in short twenty-to-thirty-minute sessions a few times a week.

This training proved pivotal to Axel’s boxing career, as it was the coaching he received here that honed his natural talent and unlocked his natural potential.

It didn’t take long for Hardaway to recognize Axel’s prodigious skill. After the aspiring boxer’s second week of training, Hardaway found Chad to excitedly proclaim, “I need to see this kid every day! He has something special.”

After that, he began everyday training. By the time he entered his first spring sparring session in 2019, he showed tremendous progress. But for the hardworking Axel, who did not win his first session, his training was not enough. He returned to the gym with increased passion and resolve, determined to work even harder.

His efforts paid off. Later that same year, he took home the gold in the Junior Olympics in Madison, Wisconsin before placing second in the Eastern Elite Qualifier.

It was Cooper’s laudable work ethic in the gym that allowed him to rise to the top. This resolve is something he attributes to Coach Randy Hardaway.

“Discipline and hard work,” he said when asked what the most important things his coach has taught him are. This discipline led him to continue his training, even when the world shut down due to the Covid-19 pandemic. During this time, Cooper received one-on-one, socially-distanced training from Coach Hardaway.

Because of this, Cooper didn’t miss a beat when restrictions were lifted and competitions resumed in 2021. He jumped right back into the competition circuit and traveled the country before being named the region and state boxing champion across eight states in 2021. That same year, he also placed second in the National Silver Gloves Tournament.

The boxing prodigy’s latest competition came in July of 2022, in which he competed in the Junior Olympics in Witchita, Kansas. Cooper and his family traveled fourteen hours so that he could compete against twenty-two opponents from across the nation. Here, he placed second, losing only to the top-ranked fighter from Oakland, California.

Despite his loss, his family remains proud of his efforts—and notes that he continues to develop.

“We were so proud,” said Chad Cooper. “He fought the best he ever has in his life.”

For the younger Cooper, these tournaments are a chance to demonstrate—and hone—his skills. Winning, of course, remains his ultimate goal.

It’s for this reason that the young boxer notes that winning the Junior Olympics remains the accomplishment of which he is most proud.

But he doesn’t plan on stopping there. Cooper has big dreams for the future.

“I plan to be on Team USA and be a world champion as a pro,” he said when asked of his long-term goals for his boxing career.

To achieve this goal, Cooper gives his all in the gym, in the ring—and at school. Now a gifted student at Long Cane Middle School, Cooper stays on top of his academics—even when he must miss school for tournaments. The boxing prodigy also finds gyms to train in when out of town so that he stays in top form.

Back 2 Basics in LaGrange, however, will always be home. It is here that Cooper is currently training with Coach Hardaway to compete in the National Championship in Lubbock, Texas and the Silver Gloves Tournament later this year.

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