Olympic boxing medallists set to turn professional following in footsteps of world champion Anthony Joshua

Galal Yafai, Lauren Price, Pat McCormack, Ben Whittaker, Frazer Clarke and Karriss Artingstall all stepped onto the Olympic podium to help Team GB record their best medal performance in boxing at a Games 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 achievements of Anthony Joshua since he was on the GB Boxing programme and Joe Joyce as well, our boxers are well schooled,” said Holt, whose boxers all train at the English Institute of Sport in the city.

“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 competitive opportunity, so whenever a boxer moves into the pro ranks 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 GB Boxing performance director 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.

With a year less to prepare due to the Tokyo Games being delayed by 12 months because of the Covid-19 pandemic, it provides further challenges for GB Boxing. But Holt insisted: “We have some talented boxers coming through the system who we are preparing for Paris in three years’ time. We have got a challenge, like all Olympic sports, because that preparation has been reduced by a year.

“We have to try to accelerate the development of the athletes coming through so when we get 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 confident we can go on and achieve again in Paris.”

A huge part of the GB Boxing operation is the vastly experienced McCracken, who despite his commitments with heavyweight champion Joshua is set to continue leading the next generation of fighters in the sport.

“Rob loves being a part of the programme and enjoys the company of the boxers, enjoys the company of the staff and the challenge of the work,” added Holt.

“My expectation is Rob will still be our PD by the time Paris comes around. It wouldn’t be the same environment without him, that’s for certain.”

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