New boxing competition pits Great Britain squad against best of the rest

BOXERS currently overlooked for the Great Britain squad will get the chance to fight their way into reckoning for the London 2012 Olympics after a new-look competition was announced.

READY FOR BATTLE: GB boxers will be pushed to the limit by the best of the rest in November

The British Amateur Boxing Association [BABA] have unveiled a competition which will pit the best boxers from Scotland, England and Wales - as selected by their respective Amateur Boxing Associations [ABAs] - against members of GB Boxing's men and women's podium squads.

If a boxer that is not currently part of the GB Boxing squad wins the Championship they will have an automatic right to join the GB squad as a funded athlete for an assessment period and have the opportunity to stake a claim to be selected for 2012.

Despite enjoying their most successful Olympics for more than half a century at Beijing 2008, the GB squad has experienced considerable upheaval but has since been stabilised under the stewardship of Rob McCracken.

Head coach Terry Edwards was shown the door while his indirect replacement, performance director Kevin Hickey, lasted just eight months.

But with McCracken taking the reins at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield, British boxers clinched three silver medals and two bronzes at the European Championships in June - their most successful medal haul for 49 years.

And McCracken believes the new competition will further strengthen the British ranks.

"This will be a high quality competition that will provide a real test for the existing GB boxers and have an influence on the make-up of the Olympic squad as we move into 2011," he said.

"It is an opportunity for all of the competitors to showcase their skills and stake a claim to be part of the team for 2012."

6,000 tickets will be made available for the finals and semi-finals of the Championship which will be held at the Echo Arena Liverpool on November 12-13, 2010.