THE RISE OF GB AMATEUR BOXING

THE RISE OF GB AMATEUR BOXING

By: Peter Mann, Head UK & Eire Editor and Craig Johns, RCM UK Boxing Writer

The recent 2012 Olympics, held in London, England, would see a number of occurrences surrounding the GB squad. Not only were the women competing for the first time in the history of the Games but it would also see the continued rise of amateur boxing in the country, surpassing even their Cuban and American counterparts. It was an historical occasion that has been a long time coming with history seeing that of the Amateur Boxing Association dating back over 130 years.

Andrew Wake; Freelance Sports Journalist                                                                                                                     

The secret to Team GB’s success at the Olympic Games comes down to funding from the National Lottery.  We’ve always had good fighters but now they have the support structure needed to ensure that they can spend time training without the burden of a day job weighing them down.                                                                     

At the Institute of Sport in Sheffield they have access to the best facilities and the best coaches. Being around other good boxers certainly helps to push them on also.                                                                                              

And things could go from strength. While many of this golden generation may be lured into the professional side of the sport, there are a number of good fighters coming through to take their place.                                                 

Qais Ashfaq and Jack Bateson are two that have stood out in the ABAs this year, but there’s also the likes of Joe Ham, Josh Leather, Isaac McLeod and Deion Jumah to be considered. One kid who particularly impressed me in the past 12 months is Luke Saunders from West Ham.

1880 – A year which saw the first ever electric street light in Indiana, William Gladstone became UK Prime Minister for a second time, Thomas Edison performed the first test on an electric railway and James A. Garfield became the 20^th President of the USA.

All these major events made headlines and as a result overshadowed another major event in history …the founding of the Amateur Boxing Association.

Fast forward 132 years and the Amateur Boxing Association is now one of the strongest boxing governors in the world; this cemented by GB’s fantastic performance at the London 2012 Olympics. So how exactly did amateur boxing rise so much?

The first thing the ABA did was establish 12 rules in which all boxing in Great Britain was to be governed by. These included ring size, clothing and footwear that were allowed, the length of bouts, Weight divisions for even competition, the judging and refereeing and time allowed in the corner between rounds. The rules have been amended and added to over the years but they formed a firm foundation for what we now have; a 140 page rule book!

A year later, 1881, the ABA hosted the first ever ABA Championships, which still takes place today now commonly known as the ABAs. All this success encouraged many other nations to also set up their own amateur boxing associations and it wasn’t long before amateur boxing was taking off globally with Great Britain competing in international matches.

Boxing was introduced at the Olympics in the 1904 games in St. Louis, Missouri but only boxers from the USA competed. There were seven weight divisions at those games compared to today’s ten plus three for women.

Four years later GB entered their first boxing squad for the 1908 London Olympics. There were only 5 weight categories and only four nations (GB, France, Australia and Denmark) competing. GB dominated winning every medal except the middleweight silver medal. It was clear that although boxing was finally being recognised there still wasn’t enough serious interest.

That changed in 1920 though when the federations of each nation joined together in 1920 to form the Federation of International Amateur Boxing Association (FIBA) and from then on Olympic boxing and amateur boxing as a whole began to thrive. It has been an Olympic sport every year since 1904 except in the 1912 Stockholm games because boxing wasn’t legal in Sweden at the time.

Amateur boxing in Great Britain, in particular the ABA championships, continued to grow too. In 1920 an ABA schoolboy championships was added and over the years competitions for Novices, Juniors, Women, Miners, Railwaymen, Police and Dockers were initiated. In 1930 the ABA sent a full team of boxers in each weight division to the British Empire Games in Canada that year. These games have since become the Commonwealth Games.

The 1970’s, 80’s and 90’s saw a major drought for Team GB with no gold medals at all during this period. Then in 1997 UK Sport was established by Royal Charter meaning public funds were going to be invested in the development of sport in the UK in particular elite athletes.

Due to lack of success, boxing’s funding was probably small heading into the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games but it was enough as Audley Harrison won Super Heavyweight gold – GB’s first ever gold in this weight.

Jon Campbell; Real Combat Media Staff Writer                                                                                                              

The GB team did great with the last commonwealth games and we got funding for a large training facility in the Sheffield institute of sport. They have strength and conditioning trainer, nutritionists, in the build-up to the Olympics they done three sessions a day four days a week. They also had many of the teams in to spar with them.

Four years later Amir Khan solely represented Team GB in Athens and at just 17 years-old. These two major successes led to far more funding being flooded in to GB amateur boxing and in Beijing we had our strongest squad in recent years taking over seven boxers of which three medalled (two bronze, one gold).

Following Beijing, GB was handed a further boost and a brand new training facility was built in Sheffield, the English Institute of Sport (EIS Sheffield). The facility is state of the art and the perfect place to train and develop the top stars in Britain. On top of this new flats were built meaning boxers in the squad have a place to live during training times rather than commuting every day.

Not only that but the ABA had another historic event this year too. The ABA championships were this year televised live for the first time ever on BoxNation TV giving boxing fans across the country a chance to see some rising amateur stars, as well as the opportunity for the boxers themselves to impress.

And what of the 2012 London Games and the astounding success that was afforded Team GB?

First the women and after the young Savannah Marshall took World Champion status, on her 21^st birthday, in Qinhuangdao, China, earlier this year; and the inclusion of Natasha Jonas and Nicola Adams, women’s boxing took centre stage for the first time. Jonas took part in what was, without doubt the bout of the tournament, when she lost to Ireland’s Katie Taylor in the quarterfinals, 26-15. Taylor, the Irish legend went on to claim a famous Gold medal of her own in defeating Sofya Ochigava in the final.

Before Taylor struck Gold for the Irish, history was created as GB’s Nicola Adams took the first ever women’s boxing title at an Olympic Games when, having defeated Stoyka Petrova (16-7) and Mery Kom (11-6) in the preceding rounds before facing that of China’s Ren Cancan in the final. The final would be the first involving women and, in winning all but the final round (which was a draw) and took success with a 16-7 score.

It wasn’t to be just the ladies though that would rise to the top. As their American counterparts fell one by one Team GB’s male boxers took on all asunder. With some seven male members in the GB Boxing Squad – Andrew Selby (Flyweight), Luke Campbell (Bantamweight), Joshua Taylor (Lightweight), Thomas Stalker (Captain and welterweight/" target="_blank">Light Welterweight), Freddie Evans (Welterweight), Anthony Ogogo (Middleweight) and Anthony Joshua (Super Heavyweight), they brought home four medals, two of which were to be Gold.

Taylor was the first to fall when he lost 15-10 to the Italian Domenico Valentino, followed by an unfortunate loss of Thomas Stalker, 23-22 against Mongolian Munkh-Erdene Uranchimeg losing only the middle of three rounds, with high scoring draws in the first and third rounds. Andrew Selby also fell 16-11 against the Cuban Robeisy Ramirez Carrazana. Anthony Ogogo also lost in the semi-final against the Brazilian Falcao Florentino Esquiva 16-9, Ogogo claiming the first medal for Team GB with a Bronze.

There was to be semi-final success for the remaining Team GB fighters as Luke Campbell (20-11 over Japan’s Satoshi Shimzu), Welshman Freddie Evans (11-10 over Ukraine’s Taras Shelestyuk) and the Super Heavyweight, Anthony Joshua (13-11 against Kazakhstani Ivan Dychko). Two of the three fighters (Campbell and Joshua) would go onto claim Gold on finals day in their respective divisions. It was to be success which confirmed the current state of amateur boxing in Great Britain.

Robert Massey; Real Combat Media Staff Writer                                                                                                            

The rise in the UK is due to the amateurs in the British squad having the funding so it lets them train like professionals instead of amateurs. The facilities in Sheffield are second to none they have nutritionist and everything they could ever want as a boxing.

But the success could not have been achieved without the behind the scenes activity, along with the support staff which is afforded to the GB Boxers at the EIS Sheffield facility. Alongside that of Rob McCracken and Matt Holt (Performance Directors) there are at least a further ten in staff and these include a Psychologist, Performance Analyst, Strength & Conditioning Coach, Physiotherapist, Doctor, Nutritionist and four recognised Podium Coaches. A staff that has, without doubt, paid off over the past few years with success not only coming in the 2012 Olympics but also in European and World Championships in the past couple of years.

It was back in late 2009 that McCracken took over as the Performance Director of GB Boxing, arriving in the aftermath of a performance at the Milan Worlds which saw no podium finishes. The turnaround has been nothing short of remarkable. Upon his appointment to the post McCracken delivered the following vision for the future –

I wanted to individualise it. When I was on the squad twenty odd years ago I always thought it would be great if you could individualise the sport to the point where you’d have four or five boxers training in the gym and you’d have four or five coaches. Thankfully, through the funding, we’re able to do that.                                       

You can look more at the faults and the mistakes and the potential of boxers and iron out the problems quicker or realise they haven’t got the potential if you sit on them and individualise it as much as possible.

The vision paid near instant dividends for the GB Squad when at the World Championships in Baku, Turkey, in 2011. Having achieved nothing in Milan two years previously, McCracken’s overhaul would see the best medal haul in history when the GB side claimed an impressive five Olympic places and four medals. It was imitated then that this talented GB Squad was going to take the London 2012 Games by storm. A prediction that proved ever so true.

McCracken also went on to discuss the contribution of the support staff that he has at his beckon call when saying that –

The support staff to me is massively important. I think the support staff needed to be given the green light to get on with the job because I’m not a psychologist, I’m not a physio and I’m not a nutritionist. The support staff is now very experienced at the tournaments, so they know the ins and outs of everything. They know where a boxer needs to be on any given day.

All of this combined led to what we saw this month – one of the best boxing squads ever put together by Great Britain. But what does the future hold?

The possibility of athletes turning professional awaits the Olympians, with a vast number of cat calls arriving for both the male and female gold medallists. The May Amateur Boxing Championships even saw no home representation as the GB Squad prepared for the Games. McCracken instead used that event to blood the next generation as the hierarchy looks at the Rio Games in 2016.

With the increasing financial backing afforded the GB set-up, along with some of the best support staff the business can provided, the future is very much a bright and prosperous one. There are even several amateur boxers outside of the Olympic squad that are to look out for includes talent of the calibre of Khalid Yafai, Iain Weaver, Martin Stead , Lawrence Osueke, Sam Maxwell, Warren Baister, Martin Ward and Charlie Edwards.

The GB Squad that was so successful at the London Games included that of Captain Thomas Stalker, whom, although was beaten, unluckily, in the early stages of the Games, shows the quality and talent in depth of those leading the revolution.

Rob Day, Editor of Ring News 24                                                                                                                                            

I believe that the rise of amateur boxing has been due, in a large way to the extra funding. The funding has been hiked right-up, in recent years, in preparation for the London 2012 Olympic Games. The recent games are proof that the extra funding does reap rewards.
Great Britain has always produced talented fighters but at times there has been a lack of direction and funding. It seems that with Team GB have plenty of success, at the recent Games, the funding from the Government and Lottery funding will remain.
Success breeds success and the 2012 Games caught the imagination of all and we will see youngsters inspired to lace up the gloves and I feel we will see a thriving amateur sport for many years to come

The next big thing, without doubt, arrived in the shape of a certain Anthony Joshua. After only four years in the fight game Joshua admittedly left his home town of Watford after several brushes with the law. Walking into a fight gym he had no knowledge as to who the Olympic Champion had just become back then (Roberto Cammarelle). It was to be the start of a meteoric rise to the top of the amateur game. That rise completely epitomises the lure, strength and ability of the GB Academy.

The biggest star in his mind towards the end of the Games though would surprise most, fellow Olympian and the first ever female gold medallist, Nicola Adams. Joshua readily admits though that his is a “boy to man story, not rags to riches.”

We have the Commonwealth Games in 2014 which are to be held in Glasgow so the attention will now turn to that whilst also keeping a close eye on the next Olympic Games in Rio de Janiero, Brazil, in 2016.

With all of the funding, effort and the quality of the coaching now going in to amateur boxing and Team GB, there is no reason why we can’t go from strength to strength and improve our fantastic achievements in the London 2012 Games.

The future is, without doubt, safe in the knowledge that with fighters like those mentioned, and waiting in the wings, the EIS Sheffield Boxing Academy will continue to churn out boxers with potential, talent, and a future.