Team GB’s medal-winning boxers backed for professional move
Great Britain’s medal-winning boxers have been backed to carry their Tokyo 2020 success into the professional ranks by GB Boxing chief executive Matt Holt.
Galal Yafai, Lauren Price, PatMcCormack,BenWhittaker, Frazer Clarke and Karriss Artingstallallsteppedontothe Olympic podium to help Team GBrecordtheirbestmedalperformanceinboxingataGames since 1920.
Flyweight champion Yafai, McCormack and Clarke are now set to bid farewell to the amateur scene and try their luck in the pro ranks, with everyone at GB Boxing urging them to achieve even more in the sport. “If you look at the achievementsofAnthonyJoshua since he was on the GB Boxing programme and Joe Joyce as well, our boxers are well schooled,” Holt said.
“They have been well schooled under the tutelage of Rob McCracken and a great coaching team, so it puts them in a great position to go on and achieve in the pro ranks.
“It is one of the particularities of our sport that we have to regenerate our squads once every four years because we know a lot of the boxers will have their eye on the professional ranks to better themselves, but we celebrate that as part of our success as well.
“We have played an important part in the journey through the development of the coaching and the competitiveopportunity,sowhenevera boxermovesintotheproranks we always have a keen eye on what they do and an interest in them doing well because they provided that inspiration for the next group of boxers coming through and become great ambassadors for GB Boxing.”
The challenge for Holt and
GBBoxingperformancedirector McCracken, who will be in Joshua’s corner for his WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight title bout with Oleksandr Usyk on September 25, is to replace the likes of gold-medallist Yafai, McCormack and Clarke when the Olympics roll into Paris in 2024.
But Holt insisted: “We have some talented boxers coming through the system who we arepreparingforParisinthree years’ time. We have got a challenge, like all Olympic sports, because that preparation has been reduced by a year.
“Wehavetotrytoaccelerate thedevelopmentoftheathletes comingthroughsowhenweget to 2024 they have the right level of competitive experience to compete effectively, but we have got the boxers, we have got the staff to do it, so we are confidentwecanachieveagain in Paris.”