The inaugural World Boxing Championships get underway in Liverpool today
Team GB boxers Callum Makin and Sacha Hickey with Natasha Jonas, centre, at a photo call for the World Boxing Championships at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool(Image: Liverpool Echo)
History will be made at the M&S Bank Arena today when the inaugural World Boxing Championships get underway. Liverpool city centre was abuzz on Wednesday as more than 500 boxers from over 60 countries prepared for the first elite-level global championships hosted by World Boxing.
The competition will feature 10 weight classes for men and women, and it will be the first time ever that male and female boxers have competed in Olympic-style boxing at the same event. Liverpool has a long history of staging major international events and was selected as the host of the competition following a successful bid that was developed by a group of partners which included England Boxing, GB Boxing, Liverpool City Council and the M&S Bank Arena, with the support of the National Lottery and UK Sport.
And GB Boxing’s performance director, Rob McCracken, believes the competition offers his fighters a brilliant opportunity to fight in front of their friends and family.
“Liverpool is a massive amateur boxing city and it is a brilliant opportunity for the boxers to fight in front of their family and friends,” he told the ECHO.
“I have been at GB Boxing for 17 years and we have never staged a world championship.”
The line-up of boxers selected by GB Boxing includes Charley Davison (W54kg) and Chantelle Reid (W70kg), who both competed at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Also included in the line-up are Scousers Odel Kamara (70kg) and Callum Makin (75kg).
“I got told 12 weeks ago that I would be competing in the World Boxing Championships, and 12 weeks have gone really fast and now it is here,” Makin told the ECHO.
“There are posters all over the city. There was even some the other day at Liverpool’s ground and it just shows how big this event is going to be.
“It is something that all the city should get behind, as it is an unbelievable tournament, and for me to represent the city and my club, the Rotunda, is incredible.”
Team GB boxers Callum Makin and Sacha Hickey at a photo call for the World Boxing Championships at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool(Image: Liverpool Echo)
While Kamara said: “To be selected for a World Boxing Championships in my home city is a dream come true.
“People have been talking to me about it for months and asking me where they can buy tickets. It’s great to have been selected. I want to deliver a performance that will make the home crowd proud.”
Natasha Jonas is no stranger to fighting at the M&S Bank Arena, and she believes home advantage could be key for GB Boxing.
“I think you will see a lot of the team will do better than expected because when you have the advantage of a home crowd, it just gives you a lift, that one percent we talk about,” she said.
Makin was recently promoted to GB Boxing’s Podium Squad after impressing in the Academy group, while Kamara is being tipped by many to claim gold.
“They are both really talented,” McCracken said. “We are three years out from Los Angeles (Olympics) and they have both got the drive, potential and talent.
“The world championships are a brilliant opportunity to box at home and for them to show where they are at. They are both very talented boxers and fairly new on the programme, but they have loads of talent.”
Inside the M&S Bank Arena on Wednesday afternoon, fighters from across the world were being put through their paces as final preparations took place.
Jonas might have become Liverpool’s first-ever two-weight world champion, but before then she enjoyed a stellar amateur career.
She won multiple titles, including five ABAE Championships, and became the first female boxer to represent Team GB at the 2012 London Olympics.
Natasha Jonas and Odel Kamara at the launch of the World Boxing Championships
And offering a fighter’s perspective of what will be going through the minds of those who are about to compete, she revealed: “As a fighter now, you have done everything physical you can and now it is about mentally taking that into the ring and calming the nerves.
“Now it is going through the procedure, going through what works for you, how you are going to warm up, all the things that you have been through a million times.
“Until the draw you never know who you are going to draw; you can even calculate after the draw has been done, but then it doesn’t work out as you have planned.
“It is just better to focus on yourself, focus everything that you have done in training into the ring and then prepare for who is in front of you at the time.”