BOXING CLEVER COLUMN: Anthony Joshua and Nicola Adams are among some of the big names to have scaled great heights after breaking through for Team GB – and Rob McCracken is positive more are to follow
Chris McKenna is the Daily Star’s boxing correspondent and an expert voice on the ‘sweet science’, along with a hugely experienced football reporter, who primarily focuses on Merseyside giants Liverpool and Everton. He has covered world title fights all around the world, Champions League finals, FA Cup finals and Premier League title deciders.
Rob McCracken has led GB Boxing to unprecedented success across four Olympic cycles but his hunger shows no signs of diminishing as the sport heads into new waters.
The GB Boxing performance director is plotting the path to LA 2028 after the sport was restored to the games following the founding of a new governing body, World Boxing. The next step on the road is next month’s World Championships which take place in Liverpool with a fresh, young GB team ready to go for glory.
McCracken has helped the likes of Anthony Joshua, Luke Campbell, Nicola Adams, Galal Yafai and more to gold across London 2012, Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024. In total GB Boxing have won 15 Olympic medals under McCracken’s tutelage but now he’s eyeing more glory in LA after the IOC returned the sport to the big stage.
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“It’s a real challenge,” said McCracken. “It’s always been a real challenge, we have got great support staff, great coaches, administration team. We’ve got people, leadership at GB Boxing. They work really, really hard on behalf of the athletes.
“And everybody’s role at GB Boxing is to support the athletes and give them the best chance and the best experience that we can. Some great kids have come through GB Boxing in my time there. Some of them have had amazing careers and some of them have done really well in life.
“It’s a really positive thing to be a part of. Seeing people come in and the good work that the Home Nation clubs, club coaches have done. Then boxers can come into the programme and then start competing with us, Uzbeks and Kazakhs, and holding their own with the best in the world, all sorts of countries.
“It is really, really special and obviously to see the changes, how it changes people’s lives and what they can go on and achieve.”
McCracken did fear for the future of amateur boxing when the previous governing body GB Boxing were aligned to, IBA, were thrown out by the IOC over governance issues and claims of corruption.
“Everyone was concerned,” he said. “But sort of you just have to keep a positive outlook and the information we’ve been getting over that period was that, you know it was positive and that it should be in the Games and it should stay in the Games.”
World Boxing has been signing up countries with 118 now signed up ahead of their first huge event which is the world championships next month at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool.
There are some countries still missing, such as Cuba, but McCracken is excited for the future and his young team which includes eight men and eight women going for medals. “It’s a young team with talent and potential,” he added. “Our job is to develop them.”
**World Championships take place September 4-14. Tickets (£15 adults, £5 concessions), news and competition schedule at ** www.worldboxingliverpool.com
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