Elite world champions from Britain, including Caroline Dubois and Ellie Scotney, will showcase their talents on Sky Sports’ stacked bill on Sunday, April 5.
There are promising signs for the future, too, thanks to England teams’ success at junior and youth level. Boxing remains one of the country’s most successful sports across age groups, reflected in the number of international medals being won.
Chris Connelly, head of performance at England Boxing, pointed to the Youth World Championships in Colorado as an example of that strength. “We only took 10 boxers and we finished with eight World champions. One got a bronze that could have easily got through to the final on another day and only one didn’t medal. Nine medals out of 10, eight of them being Youth World champions,” he said. “The last four major competitions we’ve been to, three Europeans and a Youth Worlds, Schools, Junior, Youth Europeans and a Youth Worlds in that period, we were the top country in all of them. No 1 basically in the world.”
Connelly noted the programme’s efficiency: England do not always enter every weight category because of cost, yet still outperform nations that send far larger squads. “You’ll turn up and Ukraine and India will have every single weight category, and we’re still outperforming them and topping that medal table, even though a lot of tournaments we’re at, we’ve got half the amount of entrants as those countries.”
England Boxing provides a pathway to GB and the Olympic squad but also enters international competitions under its own banner at senior, youth and junior level. “The clubs in England are unbelievable. We’ve got 1,200 boxing clubs across England, just producing talent upon talent,” Connelly said. “If there’s non-Olympic weights that are good enough to compete internationally we’ll bring them on the senior programme,” he added, citing World silver medallist Emily Asquith as an example.
“My job is that they leave England in a better place, whether that’s to go to GB, whether that’s to go professional. If they go professional it’s still great for us, still great for boxing… They’ll make a better pro because of the two years they’ve spent with us.”
Young talents highlighted include Alice Pomphrey, passed to GB after being a Youth World champion, and Ruby White, who Connelly described as “the real deal,” having won the last three European championships and the Youth World championships in recent outings.
At the U19 World Boxing Futures Cup in Thailand, Lily Bassett won gold defeating five world-class opponents, while Jaya Kalsi secured bronze after four demanding bouts. Four members of that squad are now ranked inside the top five U19 boxers globally, and all six selected are eligible for the Youth Olympic Games in Dakar later this year. Bassett, trained by her father James and head coach Marcus Luther, is coming off an incredible run including three straight European gold medals.
Caroline Dubois and Ellie Scotney both came through England’s age-group system — Dubois notably unbeaten as a junior and youth and a Youth Olympic champion — illustrating how amateur clubs and the national pathway underpin Britain’s bright boxing future.
Watch the Caroline Dubois–Terri Harper and Ellie Scotney–Mayelli Flores bill live on Sky Sports on Sunday, April 5.