I wouldn’t be here without AJ ... now watch me eclipse him
Great Britain’s Moscow-born heavyweight DELICIOUS ORIE is ready to go from nothing to everything in Paris
ABRITISH super heavyweight boxer who stands at 6ft 6in, is of Nigerian heritage and is known by a two-letter nickname is going for gold at the Olympics.
Sound familiar? It should do. Because for Delicious Orie at Paris 2024, see Anthony Joshua at London 2012.
‘ I am following AJ’s path,’ admits the man they call DJ, who only began boxing aged 18, just like Joshua.
Now 26, Orie is sitting with Mail Sport in a place his hero knows well — the GB Boxing gym at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield.
Pictures of Team GB’s Olympic champions are plastered on a giant roll of honour on the wall behind the ring, with Joshua’s face front and centre.
A slogan beneath a ‘Paris 2024’ heading reads: ‘ Join the victorious.’ Orie plans to do just that. ‘I want to get that gold medal and then become the heavyweight champion of the world,’ he says.
Remarkably, Orie did not even know who Joshua was when he won at London 2012. Back then, as a promising 15-year- old basketball player, who represented his regional team of West Midlands and had dreams of making it in the NBA, his Team GB hero was Chicago Bulls star Luol Deng.
However, everything changed four years later when he happened to catch highlights of Joshua winning his first professional world title against Charles Martin.
‘That was the first time I actually knew who he was,’ says Orie, whose own ‘DJ’ moniker derives from the initials of his first two names, Delicious Justin. ‘Then I dived deeper into where he was from and what he did to achieve what he did.
‘Listening to AJ’s story really gave me the fire to try to replicate what he did through Team GB and in the professional ranks as well.
‘The fact that he started boxing at 18, he was a super heavyweight and he got that gold medal was a real drive for me. That he also had a Nigerian background was like the cherry on the cake.
‘As soon as I walked into a gym for the first time at 18, one of my goals was to get that medal at the Olympics. If it wasn’t for AJ, I wouldn’t be in the position I am in n o w. The power of inspiration is massive.’
Orie was first introduced to his idol ( right) here in Sheffield, when Joshua was up training for one of his professional fights. They have since sparred together several times. ‘They say never meet your heroes, but he was just the guy I thought he was going to be — very humble, a lot of time for you and gives a lot of advice,’ says Orie.
‘Eventually, being able to train and spar with him, operating with a world- class athlete who has been there and done that, I can’t really put that experience into words.’
Orie’s coach Mick Maguire is on record saying his man can actually go on to ‘surpass’ what Joshua achieved. Does he agree? ‘That’s the aim,’ says Orie, who sealed Olympic qualification last summer by winning the European Games.
‘I see what he has done and it has given me the motivation to be able to replicate that and surpass him. I wouldn’t be in the sport if I didn’t think I’d be better than him or be the best. It is either zero or everything.’
Whatever Orie goes on to achieve in his career, you are not likely to forget his name. ‘Sometimes in Nigerian families you get interesting names — and I think my dad wanted to take it one level up by calling me Delicious!’ he laughs. ‘But I really do like it. I loved to stand out in school. It is unique and different.’
Orie certainly stood out as a black child growing up in Russia, his mother Natalie’s home country. He was born in Moscow and lived there until he was seven.
‘I did feel a little bit different to say the least,’ he admits. ‘I physically looked different from my peers at school. My parents did a very good job protecting me from all of that (racism). But I heard stories of my father going through it quite badly out there.’
That was one of the big reasons why the Orie family uprooted to Wolverhampton, where his dad Justin worked as a second-hand car salesman.
With his mum’s side of the family still living in Russia, Orie has been left devastated by the war in Ukraine, which escalated again over the weekend and marks its second anniversary on Saturday.
The place of Russian athletes at Paris 2024 has also provoked fierce debate. Although none have yet qualified in boxing, the International Olympic Committee are allowing individuals in sports to compete as neutrals — something Orie disagrees with.
‘What is going on has nothing to do with the athletes, who are just in the sport because they love the sport,’ he says. ‘But at the same time, you’ve got to be careful with how things are done because they can look a certain way in sport. For me, it’s better to be safe and allow the dispute to finish before we can move on.’
It is a typically thoughtful and intelligent response from a man who has a first- class degree in economics and management from Aston University in Birmingham.
‘If I didn’t box, I would probably have carried on studying and done a PHD,’ reveals the National Lottery-funded athlete. ‘I might have been a lecturer at a university because I enjoy it so much.’
Orie graduated in 2020, received his British citizenship in 2021, then won gold for England at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022.
That victory led to the inevitable headlines of ‘Golden Delicious’. They are two words that he will not mind reading again come August.
‘I don’t blame people for using it,’ he grins. ‘Gold is the target in Paris. And when I get that gold medal, I will have proved that you can start from zero and if you have that ambition, dedication and determination, you can achieve whatever you want.’