HOW THEY LINE UP
The bouts for this year’s GB championships are unveiled
THE 2017 GB Championships will take place on December 7 at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield. The line up, pitting the winners of the Three Nations championships against a GB boxer, has been announced. Plenty of exciting new talents will be on display as well as a sprinkling of veterans.
The most decorated GB boxers in action are European champion
Natasha Gale and World
medallist Lisa Whiteside. Gale has performed well internationally but now looks to reassert her domestic dominance at 75kgs against newcomer Roseanna Cox. Great Britain’s Whiteside boxes
Carly Skelly in the England vest. “The GB Championships is the biggest national event we have and it will be good to box at home in front of family, friends and local supporters. We compete all over the world and very rarely in the UK, so this is an event that the boxers in the GB Boxing squad look forward to,” Lisa said. “This is our last competition of the year so I want to make sure I finish on a high and set myself up well for 2018 which is going to be a really busy year for the female squad with the Commonwealth Games and both the European and World championships, where we can start to build-up ranking points that will help us on the road to Tokyo and the 2020 Olympics.”
At lightweight Shona Whitwell, the England Boxing Elite and Three Nations titlist, can’t compete through injury but quality England boxer Paige Murney will box at 60kgs, taking on Scotland’s Lynn Calder.
The elite men’s team has had a busy year in 2017 with two major tournaments, both the European and World championships and so, understandably, they are rested. But their rivals, pushing for that number one spot, will be jostling for position. Kiaran Macdonald, a two-time Elite national champion, steps up from 49kgs to flyweight. There he will box Scotland’s
Matthew Mchale. Fellow Scot Aqeel Ahmed,
who has been diligently acquiring further international experience in the shadow of Galal Yafai, comes in at light-flyweight, boxing England’s talented Connor Butler.
An interesting clash is lined up men’s lightweight division, as Mickey Mcdonagh, gunning for a breakthrough year, takes aim at England Boxing Elite champion Thomas Hodgson. Light-welterweight Conor Loftus, fresh off winning a gold at the Tammer tournament, like Mickey Mcdonagh too, goes in with England’s Martin Mcdonagh, who resumes his international ambitions in an intriguing contest.
At middleweight it’s Scotland versus Wales as John Docherty (technically boxing for GB on this occasion) and Kyran Jones collide. GB light-heavy George Crotty can expect a tough battle with the Scottish tean’s Sean Lazzerini. Rising star in the richly talented welterweight division, Harris
Akbar will hope to add the GB crown to the England Elite title he won for the first time this year. He meets Scotsman Stephen Newns.
This event allows boxers from England, Scotland and Wales who are not part of the Olympic boxing programme to force their way into the reckoning for Tokyo 2020 by defeating a boxer from the GB Boxing squad and securing an assessment to join the World
Class Performance Programme as a funded athlete.
Tickets are on sale now priced £10 at http://www.ticketsdirect. org.uk/gbchamps/entryform.aspx. Groups who purchase ten tickets will receive two free tickets. FULL LINE UP
Men: 49kgs: Aqeel Ahmed (SCO) v Connor Butler (ENG) 52kgs: Kiaran Macdonald (GB) v Matthew Mchale (SCO) 56kgs: Louis Lynn (ENG) v Kyle Morrison (WAL) 60kgs: Mickey Mcdonagh (GB) v Thomas Hodgson (ENG) 64kgs: Conor Loftus (GB) v Martin Mcdonagh (ENG) 69kgs: Harris Akbar (GB) v Stephen Newns (SCO) 75kgs: John Docherty (GB) v Kyran Jones (WAL) 81kgs: George Crotty (GB) v Sean Lazzerini (SCO) 91kgs: Lewis Williams (GB) v Natty Ngwenga
(ENG) 91&kgs: Mitchell Barton (SCO) v Hosea Stewart (ENG) Women: 51kgs: Lisa Whiteside (GB) v Carly Skelly (ENG) 57kgs: Crystal Barker (GB) v Nina Hughes (ENG) 60kgs: Paige Murney (GB) v Lyn Calder (SCO) 64kgs: Claudia Havranek (GB) v Megan Reid (SCO) 69kgs: Lauren Price (GB) v Stephanie Wroe (ENG) 75kgs: Natasha Gale GB) v Roseanna Cox (ENG)
‘WE’RE STARTING ON THE ROAD TO TOKYO’
Two England boxers reach the finals of the women’s World Youth championships
ENGLISH boxers Ivy-jane Smith (Heart of Portsmouth) and Georgia
O’connor (Durham Community) both won silver medals at the Youth Women’s World championships on November 27 in Guwahati, India. Georgia O’connor met Russia’s
Anatasiia Shamonova in the middleweight final. O’connor tried to keep out of range but was caught on the end of straight shots. The Russian roughed O’connor up in the second round. The English boxer looked to whip her back hand round Shamonova’s guard but ultimately could not unsettle the Russian’s control, losing the decision for all five ringside judges.
At 54kgs Ivy-jane Smith came up against host country’s Sakshi
Choudhary in their final, only losing out to the Indian boxer on a split decision. In a cagey first round they looked for weaknesses in each other’s defence. Choudhary put her footwork to use, while Smith advanced looking to cut off her space. As the bout developed it became scrappier, with Choudhary winning the decision.
England Boxing stated, “The two silver medals caps the best ever performance for England Boxing at this event. The competition sees the end of the major international events for the year and England Boxing has won 27 medals including 16 golds.”
For Ireland both Caitlin Fryers, at 48kgs, and Katelynn Phelan, at 64kgs, both secured bronze medals. Phelan lost a unanimous decision to Russia’s Ekaterina Dynnik in their semi-final, while Kazakhstan’s