Team GB Olympic Boxing Review

The Greatest: Team GB topped the medal chart in the boxing

By Peter Wells: The greatest sporting event on earth may be all over now, but for some, it was just the beginning of a journey that will go far beyond a Olympic medal. For International viewers the highlight was Usain Bolt, for Great British veiwers it was Jessica Ennis and Mo Farah who stole the show, but it was in a smaller arena where Team GB really excelled beyond all expectation. In the ExCel Arena, 10 stars from Great Britain were born as the British team were top of the pile in the Boxing medals.
The level of boxing from all competitors was incredible, some proving why they could be future stars. The ever spectacular Vasyl Lomachenko once again proved why he is known as the Pound-for-Pound best amatuer boxer. Roniel Iglesias of Cuba proved an amazing star comfortably beating all his opponents on route to the Gold medal, and was my fighter of the tournament. Serik Sapiyev was awarded the Val Barker Trophey, and who can forget, Oleksandr Usyk's dancing in the ring after beating Clemente Russo in the Heavyweight final.

Unfortunatly not all of Team GB's amazing boxing team won a medal, but the way they fought was a credit to the sport. They may not have left with a medal but they can be more than proud of what they have achieved. Josh Taylor, Andrew Selby, Thomas Stalker, Natasha Jonas and Savannah Marshall, all have bright futures, whether that be in the amatuer of proffessional ranks. Reaching the Olympics is still a golden achievement.



Fight of the tournament: Katie Taylor and Natasha Jonas
put on an exceptional fight

There were so many highlights for Team GB in Boxing, too many to mention in fact, but i'll try my best to sum up a great Olympics. A big shout must go out to the Irish fans who drove their four medalists to success. The noise for Irish hero Katie Taylor's fight with Natasha Jonas was as loud as the fight was good. It was quite easily the fight of the tournament as both fighters traded toe-to-toe for 4 rounds.

As for our five medalists their roads to the podium were highlights for all British fight fans to remember. Anthony Ogogo took Bronze, Fred Evans Silver and Luke Campbell, Anthony Joshua and Nicola Adams all took home Gold.



Hull's Golden Boy: Luke Campbell celebrates a faultless
Olympics

Freddie fought brilliantly all the way through to the final, his only demon being switching off when he was too comfortable. In the end he was defeated by the fighter of the tournament, Sapiyev who was exceptional in the final.

On the final Saturday of the Olympics, Luke Campbell finished off an inch perfect tournament when knocking down John Joe Nevin on route to a wide points victory. The 24 year old from Hull took his home Olympics in his stride, proving he is a big prospect for the future.



Golden Girl: Nicola Adam's became the face of female boxing

It was earlier that week when Team GB secured their first boxing medal, and the first ever Women's boxing Gold medal. Nicola Adams' smile was all over the news channel's and the paper's after she stormed here way into the history books. The Flyweight division was as tough as it gets and she had to come through Mary Kom and then Ren Cancan to take Gold, but she did it in style. Every time she walked to the ring, you could have been mistaken for thinking she was walking along to see friends rather than heading into a boxing ring to trade leather for four rounds.

As for Great Britain's final Gold of the Olympics, you couldn't have written a script for it. After 6 minutes of boxing, Anthony Joshua found himself unlucky to be 3 points down going into the final round. An almost impossible deficit to overturn, especially against a top quality fighter like Roberto Cammaralle. Big Josh had come with a plan, that plan consisted of him winning a Gold medal. Anthony never stopped coming forward and left us all with an anxious wait to see if GB boxing's poster boy had indeed completed an amazing turnaround. The scores were level and even before his name was called out the referee had lifted Joshua arm aloft, which was meet with deafening applause.

What an end!: Anthony Joshua wins GB's final Gold in spectacular fashion

Anthony now has a big decision to make, but i hope he chooses the option that he feels is right for him and not for the fans.

The last of our medallists but by far not our least is Anthony Ogogo. Anthony has come along a very tough road to reach the Olympics. He was knocked out of the World Championships last year after an injury that looked to have cost him his dream of competing in the London 2012 games. But there is almost an inch of hope, and Anthony found it. He miraculously recovered to fight in the final qualifier for the Olympics earlier this year against all the odds and came through to qualify.

Moment for life: Anthony Ogogo's joy after beating the world no.1 shows how
much the Olympics means

Then when things seemed to be getting better for Anthony his mother suffered a brain aneurysm just before the Olympics. Anthony took time to think before deciding he would go to the Olympics and bring home a medal for his mother. The draw though was unkind on Ogogo, pitting him against the World Number 1, Ievgen Khytrov in the second round. But for a man who had been through so much, this was just an obstacle in his path to fulfilling his dream. The fight was tense and behind a tight guard Anthony took the best that Khytrov had. He opened up a 2 point lead after the first round, but after being rocked in the second round his lead had been cut to a single point. After a frantic final the round the crowd and boxers were left to wait for a good 5 minutes. The scores were level, countback was level, but the majority of judges gave Anthony the nod for the biggest upset of the competition. Ogogo was in joy like the rest of Great Britain. It was poetry in motion, a great moment of the Olympic games that can be remembered forever. Ogogo then secured a medal with a much more comfortable victory. Anthony though had put so much into getting to the medals he had nothing left in the semi-final. The Brazilian Falcao was too strong on the day and took a convincing victory 16-9.

I left Anthony Ogogo till last for a reason. What he has been through and what he has achieved will inspire many people around the world. The whole of Great Britain is proud of him but no one more than his mother Teresa.