Luke McCormack will be the first of Birtley’s three muskateers to box at the Commonwealth Games.
Luke will be followed into the Oxenford Studios auditorium on the Gold Coast by twin brother, Pat, and Calum French.
The triumvirate form 25% of the England side at the breathtaking Australian host venue.
Luke enters the Commonwealth Games on Thursday at the round of 32 stage at light-welterweight.
The European Championship silver medallist will tackle Kavuma Ssemujja. Victory against the Ugandan will give him a Sunday, April 8 tie against Northern Ireland’s Sean McComb, who received a bye. He must win five contests if he is to clinch the U64 kilo title.
Pat enters the fray this Saturday at the round of 16 stage at welterweight, where he will meet the winner of the round of 32 bout between Grenada’s Jonathan Francois and Shane Bonifice, from the Seychelles.
The European Championship silver medallist needs to win four times to come home to Washington with gold and take two victories to get a medal.
French is the lightest of the Birtley band of boxing brothers, and the last to enter the tournament.
He will box Pakistan’s Ali Ahmad in the round of 16 on Monday. Like Pat, he must win four times to take gold.
It is the third occasion the McCormack twins and French have been in the same squad at a major tournament.
They drew a blank at the World Championships in Hamburg, but, previous to that, Luke and Pat were runners-up at the European Championships in the Ukraine, where French brought home a bronze medal.
This time they have England vests on – the UK nations all split up for the Commonwealth Games.
“We’re making history again,” Pat told punch-lines. “Hopefully we’ll come back with three golds from this one.
“We’ve all got the ability to do it, we’ve all just had some good WSB wins and we can’t wait to get out there.”
Words: Roy Kelly
