Caoimhin Hynes: Belfast boxer returns to action five months after being stabbed

Amateur boxer Caoimhin Hynes will return to action this weekend, five months after being stabbed in the face in Belfast.

Hynes was slashed in the cheek perilously close to a main artery in an assault during a night out.

The 20-year-old had surgery but was soon back training and will compete in a multi-nations tournament in Barcelona.

Hynes hopes to box for Northern Ireland at next year's Commonwealth Games.

The Holy Trinity boxer won gold at an international tournament in Paris days before the attack in April.

He needed two operations at the Ulster Hospital in Belfast after the stabbing left him with a five-inch wound on his left cheek.

He was been on a night out in Belfast with his girlfriend after a charity boxing event when he was slashed on Royal Avenue.

Within two months, Hynes returned to the Holy Trinity gym, although headaches meant he only resumed full training in the summer.