Pat McCormack will spearhead a Great British crack at the medal podium in Tokyo in 2020.
So says two of the men at the top of GB boxing.
The dust has settled on the 2019 edition of AIBA’s World Championships, where McCormack clinched a silver medal in the welterweight division.
There was bad luck for the Birtley star, who was stopped in the U69 kilo final by a bad cut following a clash of heads with Russia’s Olympic medalist, Andrei Zamkovoi.
There was controversy too in Ekaterinburg where Frazer Clarke lost out on a medal after the Russian Federation the result of his super-heavyweight quarter-final ‘win’ against Russia’s Maxim Babanin overturned on appeal.
Britain ended with three medals, Pat’s silver and bronzes for featherweight Peter McGrail and light heavy Ben Whittaker.
GB Boxing’s Performance Director, Rob McCracken, and Richie Woodhall have high hopes for the Tokyo Olympics next summer.
Both know what they are on about – McCracken has been behind GB’s success at the 2012 and 16 Olympics, not to mention Anthony Joshua’s career, while Woodhall is one of Rob’s coaches at the English Institute of Sport n Sheffield as well as an ex-world middleweight champion and former Olympic medalist.
BBC Sport boxing co-commentator Woodhall said: “Well done Pat McCormack for his silver.
“He’s had a good tournament and the way he’s going I think he’ll be among the medals at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
“He’s a quality kid and just suffered awful luck. If he keeps working hard he will get his just rewards in Tokyo.”
McCracken said: “The standard of this tournament is unbelievably high so to come away with three medals, and know it should have been more, is a fantastic performance.
“The fact we had six boxers in the quarter-finals shows we have strength across the weight categories in this group so it has been a really good team performance and all of the boxers and staff should be happy with what they have achieved.
“Pat has been absolutely fantastic and it is just very unfortunate that his final got stopped because of the clash of heads.
“Overall though, we are very happy with the progress we have seen. The squad is going in the right direction and the outlook is positive as we look towards the qualifying campaign and the Olympics in Tokyo next year.”
Words: Roy Kelly Picture: GB Boxing
