Performance director Rob McCracken insists next month’s AIBA World Boxing Championships will be a tough but ultimately rewarding challenge after naming 14 Brits to fight in Almaty.
Fred Evans, an Olympic welterweight silver medallist from London 2012, heads the team and is one of three to have fought at the Games last summer with Andrew Selby and Josh Taylor joining him.
Selby is joined by fellow flyweight Charlie Edwards while Taylor will fight in the light-welterweight category at the World Championships in Kazakhstan with Sam Maxwell.
Commonwealth champion Sean McGoldrick and Gamal Yafai are the bantamweights chosen and Aston Brown and Anthony Fowler the middleweights with sole fighters in five other categories.
Lawrence Osueke, Warren Baister and Joe Joyce will compete in the light-heavy, heavy and super-heavyweight respectively while Joe Cordina will contest the light and Jack Bateson the light-fly.
And performance director McCracken is looking forward to seeing what those chosen by the British Amateur Boxing Association can do as they build towards the next Olympic Games in Rio in 2016.
“Major tournaments at this stage in the Olympic cycle are always tough and this will be a massive test for what will be a relatively inexperienced group,” said McCracken.
“At the same time it is also a big opportunity for the boxers to show they have what it takes to succeed at world level and establish themselves as a key member of our squad as we build towards Rio in 2016.”
© Sportsbeat 2013