Elite world champions from Britain, like Caroline Dubois and Ellie Scotney, will showcase their talents on Sky Sports‘ stacked bill on Sunday.
There are promising signs too, thanks to the success of England boxing teams at Junior and Youth level, that a vibrant future beckons for the sport in the years to come.
Boxing is one of the country’s most successful sports across its age groups, its strength told in the number of international medals being won.
Chris Connelly, head of performance at England Boxing, pointed out: “I think a perfect example is the Youth World championships in Colorado. It was Colorado, it’s an expensive gig. We only took 10 boxers and we finished with eight World champions.
“One got a bronze that could have easily got through to the final on another day and only one didn’t medal. Nine medals out of 10, eight of them being Youth World champions, I think India finished below us and they had double the amount of boxers than us.
“The last four major competitions we’ve been to, three Europeans and a Youth Worlds, Schools, Junior, Youth Europeans and a Youth Worlds in that period, we were the top country in all of them. No 1 basically in the world.”
He added: “It’s a bit of a concerted effort with England that we don’t take the full distribution of weight categories, one because we can’t afford it. But you’ll turn up and Ukraine and India will have every single weight category, and we’re still outperforming them and topping that medal table, even though a lot of tournaments we’re at, we’ve got half the amount of entrants as those countries.”
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Sky Sports Boxing’s Andy Scott runs though everything you need to know about Caroline Dubois’ lightweight unification clash with Terri Harper, April 5.
England Boxing provide a pathway to GB, the Olympic squad, but enter international competitions in their own right at senior, youth and junior level.
“The clubs in England are unbelievable. We’ve got 1200 boxing clubs across England, just producing talent upon talent and then they come through our doors and similar to when we pass them on to GB I suppose, they come through our doors and we just try to harness them to go internationally and represent us well,” Connelly said.
“If there’s non-Olympic weights that are good enough to compete internationally we’ll bring them on the senior programme,” he added, with World silver medallist Emily Asquith a prime example of that.
“My job is that they leave England in a better place, whether that’s to go to GB, whether that’s to go professional. If they go professional it’s still great for us, still great for boxing, it’s still someone on the telly doing well that inspires someone else to go into an England Boxing club and then that cycle all starts again.
“They’ll make a better pro because of the two years they’ve spent with us.”
Ruby White exemplifies the success of young England teams (Pic courtesy of USA Boxing)
Whether they find their way into the pro ranks or to the Olympic Games, the future of British boxing is looking bright.
“The talent is phenomenal. Alice Pomphrey we passed over to GB, she was a Youth World champion. Ruby White is just an incredible talent,” Connelly said.
“Ruby has won the last four major competitions she’s been to. She’s won the last three European championships and the Youth World championships.
“She’s the real deal.”
At the recent U19 World Boxing Futures Cup in Thailand, Lily Bassett won a superb gold medal for England, defeating five world-class opponents en route to the top of the podium.
Jaya Kalsi also impressed, securing bronze after four demanding bouts in Bangkok. Four of the squad are now ranked inside the top five U19 boxers in the world.
All six of the selected squad are now eligible for the Youth Olympic Games in Dakar, Senegal later this year.
Bassett, who’s trained by her father James and head coach, and Gogglebox star, Marcus Luther, is also coming off an incredible run of winning three straight European gold medals.
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Caroline Dubois and Terri Harper shared an intense face-off and traded a few more words after the launch press conference for their fight on April 5.
The success of England boxing teams is an indicator that the future is bright for British boxing. Caroline Dubois and Ellie Scotney, long before they were professional world champions, represented England in different age groups. Dubois was a stunningly successful junior and youth, never losing in those categories and winning the Youth Olympics.
The strong foundations of the sport in this country are due to the amateur boxing clubs.
“Our big thing is those 1200 boxing clubs around the country and where they’re located and who they cater for and how easy it is to just go into a boxing club and start the sport,” Connelly said.
“The ABA, England Boxing’s been around 150 years, but then we have a really robust regional and national championship structure that is open to anyone, if you’re good enough.”
Watch the Caroline Dubois-Terri Harper and Ellie Scotney-Mayelli Flores bill live on Sky Sports on Sunday April 5.
