Opportunity knocks
WELSH featherweight Owain Harris-allan has been handed a late call up for the Olympic qualifying event that gets underway in Italy on
Monday (March 4).
The 20-year-old from Apollo ABC steps in after Jack Dryden was ruled out through a hand injury. Dryden suffered the injury during his run to the final of last month’s World Boxing Cup: GB Open. He missed out on facing Harris-allan in the final, gifting the Cardiff boxer gold on a walkover.
Harris-allan went on to secure Boxam gold in Spain earlier this month and needs
Harris-allan and Macdonald head to Italy next week with only Olympic qualification in mind to reach the semi-finals in Busto Arsizio to reach Paris this summer. Sunderland flyweight Kiaran Macdonald reached the last four at the European Games in Poland last year – but it wasn’t enough.
Defeat to Billal Bennama, the 2022 European Champion from France, in the semifinals left Macdonald heartbroken. “Some people qualified by getting a bronze and it was a bit gut wrenching to miss out,” he said. “I was proud of everyone who qualified, but it was heart-breaking and I had to build my resilience, dust myself off and get myself back in the best mental state possible.”
Confidence was restored at the World Boxing Cup: GB Open at the English Institute of Sport in January. Macdonald had a couple of points wins for the gold with the final a satisfying victory over Salah Ibrahim, the German who had beaten him in the final of the Tammer tournament two months earlier.
“It was great to get the Christmas dust off and feel like myself again,” said Macdonald, who estimates he’s boxed in more than 60 international
‘IT BROKE MY HEART AND I HAD TO BUILD MY RESILIENCE’
bouts since he joined the Great Britain squad eight years ago.
He made his breakthrough at the 2016 Elite Championships. “I beat two who were on the (Great Britain) programme above me,” said Macdonald. “I beat Joe Maphosa and Sunny Edwards and took their spot and they went on to the pros.”
Macdonald doesn’t remember too much of his split points win over Edwards in Liverpool, saying only it was “a top-level fight that was always going to be nip and tuck. Looking at what he has gone on to achieve [Edwards won and defended the IBF flyweight title] shows what level I was operating at.”
The bout was only a day after Macdonald’s 19th birthday and he has competed at a high level ever since, claiming silver medals from both the European Championships and Commonwealth Games in 2022, and had a hand in helping Galal Yafai win lightflyweight gold in Tokyo.
“I played a big part in helping him win the gold,” said Macdonald. “I went to Tokyo to spar him and feel I improved him as much as he improved me. Now I feel it’s my time. I have got my fair share of experience. I have competed in World Series of Boxing and an Olympic medal would be the icing on the cake. I want the big one when all eyes are on you.
“I have been in with the best fighters in the world and I know it’s about getting it right on the day. You have to do it when it matters. One punch can cost you a round and change a fight. At this level they are all so skilled and talented that a punch can get through without you noticing and flip a round on its head.”
The Olympic Games is the reason Macdonald first pulled on a pair of boxing gloves. The nine-year-old Macdonald was captivated by the story of Tony Jeffries, a lad from the same city, Sunderland.
Jeffries qualified for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, where he claimed lightheavyweight bronze, and Macdonald said: “That’s the reason I started boxing, after I saw Tony qualify. When he qualified, the city went up. That’s what got me in the gym. He was one of the first boxers from the North East to qualify for the Olympics and it was massive. He changed his life.”
Macdonald headed to Sunderland ABC looking to do the same and found Josh Kelly there looking to do the same. “It was a great gym, there were so many people to learn off,” said Macdonald. “I still speak to Josh. I was in the (Great Britain) squad when he went to Rio.”
Macdonald - and the rest of the Great Britain squad – spent a week in Italy at a training camp ahead of next week’s qualifier. That camp included spars and gym bouts against others who will be in Italy – and Macdonald says the experience was priceless.
“In a three, three-minute round fight, it’s over before you know it,” said Macdonald. “You can’t have a round looking at them. That first round can cost you an Olympic spot. Everyone who is left will be there at the qualifier. Four or five wins should get me there. I proved at the European Games that I’m up there with the best. There are eight places left and I feel I’m as good as anyone who’s left. I just have to get it right on the day.”