British boxing's next generation

By Nabil Hassan

It is a long road to London 2012, but Britain's boxers begin that journey in Italy this week at the World Championships in Milan.

With the Olympics in London now less than three years away, a young group of seven face their first international test at the 12-day competition which begins on 1 September.

Having tasted European glory over the past year, the GB squad now gets its first opportunity to test itself against the cream of world boxing with Cuba, China and India likely to prove the sternest competition of the 100 nations competing in Italy.

The squad have been putting the finishing touches to their preparations at a training camp in France and are all set to do battle in Milan.

But there is still a lot of hard work to be done before the current GB crop can be considered in the same class as the Beijing group, of who only Bradley Saunders - who is currently injured - and Khalid Yafai remain.

Olympic middleweight champ James DeGale and bronze-medallists Tony Jeffries and David Price have all turned professional.

However, British Amateur Boxing Association (BABA) performance director Kevin Hickey feels the systems are now in place to make Britain as competitive, if not more so, in London 2012.
"It is an early building stage and we have three years to go in terms of the Olympic cycle," Hickey told BBC Sport.

"We are confident that we have the structure and system in place to produce future Olympic gold medallists such as James DeGale in 2012.

"The success through the year to date has been very solid and very promising. The influx of talent we have coming through is making us very confident of good medal return in London."

It is a squad that is three men short of the one that will appear at the Olympics, but BABA officials are determined that they take a team that will be competitive in Milan.

"In terms of numbers it really reflects where we are at this point in terms of filling places for 2012," added Hickey.

"There are some weights that we have not yet got a boxer of the right quality in the programme to give this level of exposure.

"You cannot take chances, especially with the 2012 programme, you are looking for enhancement and progression over the next three years which means if they are not ready they cannot be exposed too early.

"To throw someone in who is not experienced at international level would have a negative impact on their potential of making it to 2012.
So what of the squad?
It includes 20-year-old flyweight Khalid Yafai from Birmingham who appeared at last year's Olympics and who in June won gold at the European Union Amateur Boxing Championships in Denmark.

Yafai was also senior ABA national champion at the age of 17 and is an exciting prospect.

There are also high hopes for Hull's 21-year-old bantamweight Luke Campbell who in 2008 became England's first European amateur champion for 47 years.

And 19-year-old Manchester light-flyweight Tommy Stubbs, who like Yafai won gold in Denmark, is another boxer to keep an eye on.

All three are expected to be in the mix for medals in Milan and Hickey is excited at their chances of glory ahead of 2012.

"Realistically it is early days and this is a very young and inexperienced squad," said Hickey.

"But in terms of having got the necessary experience to be successful in Milan then we have two boxers in Khalid and Luke who can deliver on the world stage.

"Looking at other exciting young talent then I guess Tommy Stubbs in the 48kg category is one for people to look out for.

"He is a character in his own right, he's one eight out of eight bouts this season. He's senior ABA champion and he also won the EU Championships this year.

"Tommy has an unorthodox style, bags of confidence and has a huge character. He may have to move up a weight for 2012, and as far as Milan is concerned he could do something."
Another boxer in the squad who could be competitive in Milan is Liverpool's 25-year-old Thomas Stalker who took silver at the EU Championships, having won the GB Championships in Liverpool in May.

The other members of the team are bantamweight Andrew Selby, light-welterweight Scott Cardle and heavyweight Steve Simmons.

But the squad will be without Saunders, who recently fractured his thumb in a training bout in Dublin.

Hickey's greatest success to date as been the introduction of the three tier squad system that will ensure GB's elite boxers are competitive up until 2012.

The system will be completed by the end of the year and involves the current 10-man podium squad being supported by a similarly sized development squad.

In turn a 10-man feeder squad will come to Sheffield once a month and provide competition for the development group which will then in turn provide pressure on the podium boxers.

It is just one of a number of measures that officials hope will bring rewards in London in three years' time.