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Nick Parkinson
Team GB is the third most successful boxing team in Olympic history behind the United States and Cuba, with a total of 18 golds, 13 silvers, and 25 bronzes in all Olympics. In Tokyo three years ago, Team GB captured six medals, but in Paris it will have its smallest team since a 17-year-old Amir Khan was the only British boxer at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, where he won silver.
A reduced tournament for the men has seen teams travel to Paris with fewer boxers than at previous Games, but Team GB is still expected to be well represented on the podium at Roland Garros, the tennis venue where the boxing tournament will be staged.
More women will be boxing in Paris than in Tokyo three years ago, but there will be at least 63 fewer men in a reduced seven weight classes, the fewest since 1908.
The likes of James DeGale, Anthony Joshua, Nicola Adams and Lauren Price went from Olympic gold medalists to world champions in the professional game. Who are the six boxers trying to emulate their success in Paris who could go on to be stars in the paid game?
Delicious Orie
Super heavyweight (92 kg+)
Age: 27
Record: 29-8 (2 KOs)
Instagram: @deliciousboxing
If gold medals were handed out for the best names, Team GB’s super heavyweight would be a strong contender. Team GB has a strong tradition in the division, having won two golds (Audley Harrison 2000, Joshua 2012), a silver (Joe Joyce 2016), and a bronze (Frazer Clarke 2021).
Born in Moscow to a Nigerian father and Russian mother, 6-foot-2 Orie’s family moved from Russia to the UK to escape racism and search for a better life when he was seven years old.
Wolverhampton-based Orie, who only started boxing aged 18, will have perhaps the most expectation on his shoulders in the whole team, but he has benefited from sparring sessions with two-time world heavyweight champion Joshua, who like Orie started boxing late. Orie’s potential for Paris was highlighted when he won a gold medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, but he enters the Olympics after suffering three points defeats in four bouts this year.
Away from boxing, Orie gained a first-class honours degree in Business and Management from Aston University and is named after singer Delicious Kennedy from U.S.-based R&B band All-4-One.
Patrick Brown
Heavyweight (92 kg)
Age: 24
Record: 19-3, 4 KOs
Instagram: @patbrown__
Brown learned to box at the same amateur club (Sale West) as Ricky Hatton and will be trying to win Great Britain’s first heavyweight medal in over 100 years. He enters the Games in a good vein of of form.
The Manchester-based boxer has been with Team GB for two years and beat Poland’s Mateusz Bereznicki in a heavyweight bout at the first Olympic qualifier to bag a quota place and will now hope to fulfil his dreams in Paris.
Lewis Richardson
Junior middleweight (71 kg)
Age: 27
Record: 44-18, 1 KO
Instagram: @lewisjrichardson_
The Colchester-based boxer secured his Olympic spot in the final qualifying event in June after having to drop down a weight class after the 75kg category was removed from the Olympic programme.
He only started boxing as a way of keeping fit for football, but has won European Championship silver and a Commonwealth Games bronze as an amateur boxer. Away from boxing, he is studying part-time for a master’s degree in sports business management.
Chantelle Reid
Age: 26
Middleweight (75 kg)
Record: 17-7, 2 KOs
Instagram: @chantelle_reid1_
Reid had to stop boxing for six years due to a degenerative disc injury, before returning to the sport in 2023. She did an apprenticeship in wealth management and mortgages, investments and pension, but swapped sitting at a desk for a return to the gym, making an impression at the National Boxing Championships in the same year she returned.
The Derby-based boxer lost her last three bouts coming into the Games after qualifying in March, though the most recent two defeats came by split decision.
Rosie Eccles
Age: 28
Welterweight (66 kg)
Record: 51-23, 9 KOs
Instagram: @rosieeccles1996
The Welshwoman head to Paris after missing out on the last Olympics due to three separate bouts of Covid-19 and suffering nerve damage in her arm. Eccles, from Cardiff, won gold at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and has a first class degree in sports studies and an MSc in sport psychology. She is good prospect for a medal in France.
Charley Davison
Age: 30
Bantamweight (54 kg)
Record: 35-12, 2 KOs
Instagram: @charley_sian_davison
Mother-of-three Davison is the only Team GB boxer with previous Olympic experience, after she missed out on a medal with defeat in the quarterfinals in Tokyo three years ago. She has moved up from flyweight to bantamweight for Paris.
The Lowestoft boxer initially only returned to boxing to lose weight after giving up the sport to have her children (Arnell, Armani, and Amir). She won four bouts in the U.S. in April, her only contests of 2024.
Source: www.espn.com