Great Britain’s next generation of Olympic boxers to compete in ‘Battle of Britain’ event in Sheffield
Youth Olympic Champion Karol Itauma aims to star at 2019 GB Boxing Championships
Eleven of the best up-and-coming young boxers in Great Britain have been selected to compete for GB Boxing in the 2019 GB Boxing Championships at the English Institute of Sport Sheffield on Thursday 5 December 2019 (doors open at 6.45pm, boxing begins at 7.30pm).
The event is an opportunity for sports fans to get an early look at some of the boxers that aim to wear the Team GB vest at a future Olympic Games.
The 11 boxers that will represent GB Boxing are from towns and cities across the UK including: Liverpool, Newcastle, Durham, Darlington, London, Oldham, Cheltenham, Royston (Cambridgeshire), Medway (Kent), Ballinger (Buckinghamshire) and Congleton (Cheshire). All of them are current members of Great Britain’s hugely successful Olympic boxing programme, which is based in Sheffield.
Tickets are on sale now at the advanced sale price of £10 at http://www.ticketsdirect.org.uk/gbchamps. Groups who purchase ten tickets will receive two free tickets.
The GB Boxing selections will compete against boxers representing England and Wales in a ‘Battle of Britain’ that will see any home nation boxer who defeats a member of the GB Boxing squad secure the opportunity of an assessment to join the Olympic programme as a funded athlete.
The home nation boxers are all either winners of the 2019 Elite Three Nations competition (which is contested by the winners of the 2019 National Championships in England, Scotland and Wales) or have been selected by their national governing body (NGB).
The GB Boxing selections include the 2018 Youth Olympics gold medallist, Karol Itauma and up-and-coming super-heavyweight, Courtney Bennett, who will be defending the title he won in 2018.
GB Boxing’s Performance Director, Rob McCracken said: “The GB Boxing Championships is an important tournament in the development of young boxers as it helps the coaches and performance staff at GB Boxing to evaluate up-and-coming talents and assess whether they have the potential to challenge our existing number one boxers and ultimately make it to an Olympic Games in the future.
“Winning the GB Championship has been a key part of the Olympic pathway for a lot of successful boxers. Previous winners include most of the male and female boxers that are likely to represent Team GB at Tokyo 2020 along with names like Anthony Joshua, Luke Campbell and Nicola Adams, who all progressed from success at the GB Boxing Championships to winning gold at the Olympic Games.”
No members of the GB Boxing squad have been selected at welterweight, so the event will feature an England v Wales contest at this weight class.
The full line-up is:
Weight | GB Boxing | Home Nation | |
Women | |||
51kg – flyweight | Chloe Watson (GB) | vs | Helen Jones (WAL) |
57kg – featherweight | Raven Chapman (GB) | vs | Jade Pearce (ENG) |
60kg – lightweight | Hannah Robinson (GB) | vs | Kirsty Hill (ENG) |
69kg – welterweight | Georgia O’Connor (GB) | vs | Campbell (ENG) |
75kg – middleweight | Kerry Davis (GB) | vs | Jodie Wilkinson (ENG) |
Men | |||
52kg – flyweight | Will Cawley (GB) | vs | Jake Dodd (WAL) |
63kg – lightweight | Callum Thompson (GB) | vs | Masood Abdullah (ENG) |
69kg – welterweight * | Harvey Lambert (ENG) | vs | Shane Taffetsaufer (WAL) |
75kg – middleweight | Ramtin Musah (GB) | vs | Jimmy Tyers (ENG) |
81kg – light-heavy | Connor Tudsbury (GB) | vs | Aaron Bowen (ENG) |
91kg – heavyweight | Karol Itauma (GB) | vs | Sam Leyson (WAL) |
91kg+ – super-heavy | Courtney Bennett (GB) | vs | Gideon Antwi (ENG) |
* No GB Boxing selection at this weight class.