GB Boxing announces its selection of athletes to compete at the World Boxing Championships 2025 in Liverpool

GB Boxing has selected 16 men and women from the World Class Programme (WCP) for boxing to compete at the forthcoming World Boxing Championships 2025 in Liverpool, 4-14 September 2025.

The selection is made-up of nine men and seven women who will all represent England at the World Boxing Championships where boxers from Great Britain will compete in their home nation vests for England, Scotland and Wales.

The line-up of boxers selected by GB Boxing includes two women that competed at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Charley Davison (W54kg) and Chantelle Reid (W70kg), and two men from Liverpool, Odel Kamara (M70kg) and Callum Makin (75kg), who will be competing in their home city.

They are joined by three in-form boxers, Lucy Kings-Wheatley (W60kg), Patris Mughalzai (M65kg), and Teagn Stott (85kg) who all won bronze medals on their most recent competitive outings at the “World Boxing Cup: Kazakhstan – Astana 2025” at the start of July 2025.

Odel Kamara, who started his boxing career at Salisbury ABC in Liverpool, said: “To be selected for a World Boxing Championships in my home city is a dream come true. People have been talking to me about it for months and asking me where they can buy tickets. It’s great to have finally been selected and means I can now just focus on getting myself in the best possible shape to deliver a performance that will make the home crowd proud.”

His fellow Scouser, Callum Makin, who was recently promoted to GB Boxing’s Podium Squad after impressing in the Academy group, added: “I have not been in the GB Boxing squad for too long, so it was great to be selected. The coaches have shown great faith in me and told me they are confident I can operate at this level, so that is a real confidence boost and I am determined to repay them by working hard to be in the best possible shape and deliver a strong performance.

“People in Liverpool love boxing and I have no doubt that this will be a great event and I am looking forward to getting lots of support from the home crowd.”

For Paris Olympian, Chantelle Reid, the championships in Liverpool will be her first competitive outing after a recent visit to her old school Primary School in Derby, inspired her to forego a career in the professional ranks and pursue her lifetime dream of winning an Olympic medal.

Reid explained: “I was recently invited to tell my story in a school assembly, which was really special because it was with my year four teacher, Mrs Faulkner. She asked the children if anyone has a dream and 99 per cent of the pupils raised their hands. It was a really emotional moment for me because I was sat there at one point with a dream which was to become an Olympic champion.

“I explained I was turning professional, and she couldn’t believe that, at 27, I wouldn’t be going for another Olympic cycle. It made me reflect. An Olympic medal has always been my dream, so I decided to go for it again. The World Championships will be the first step back on this journey and to have it at home will be fantastic. I can’t wait.”

For her fellow Paris Olympian and mum of three, Charley Davison, the World Boxing Championships is the next staging post on the road to Los Angeles 2028 Games (LA28) and emulating the achievement of the legendary Scottish boxer, Dick McTaggart, who is the only person in history to box for Team GB at three Olympics.

Davison said: “I made the decision to go for a third Olympics earlier this year and since then I have been to two tournaments so feel in good shape and ready to perform at the World Championships. I have a lot of experience at major competitions, so I know what to expect. But as this is a home competition it will give me an extra boost having my children and family there to watch me, so I am determined to go out there and box to the best of my ability.”

One female boxer in great form is welterweight, Sacha Hickey, who is heading into the tournament on an unbeaten streak of more than 30 bouts that includes gold medals at significant tournaments like the ‘World Boxing Cup: Brazil 2025’ in April and last year’s U23 European Championships in Sofia.

Hickey said: “It feels good to be selected for my first major competition. I feel I have had a good year so far heading into the Worlds and I am looking forward to the challenges I’ll face and the occasion itself.”

Hickey’s sense of anticipation was echoed by fellow Londoner, Damar Thomas, who is the latest boxer to occupy GB Boxing’s coveted super-heavyweight slot, and follow in the footsteps of Olympic medallists David Price, Anthony Joshua, Joe Joyce and Frazer Clarke.

Thomas said: “It is a privilege to be selected for a tournament in your home country and hopefully I can repay that faith and bring a medal back. It’s moments like this where you have to show why you’re on the GB Boxing squad. To be the best, you have to fight the best and the World Boxing Championships is the perfect place to be doing just that.”

The full line up of men and women selected by GB Boxing is:

Boxer	D.O.B	Weight Class	Country	Hometown(Club)
Alice Pumphrey	03/05/2006	Light-flyweight – W48kg	England	Dewsbury(The Purge Boxing Academy)
Kelsey Oakley	21/07/2003	Flyweight – W51kg	England	Dudley(Priory Park ABC
Charley Davison	24/11/1993	Bantamweight – W54kg	England	Lowestoft(Attleborough ABC)
Ellis Trowbridge	24/01/2002	Bantamweight – M55kg	England	Worcester Park. London(Surbiton ABC)
Elise Glynn	05/09/2001	Featherweight – W57kg	England	Solihull(West Warwicks ABC)
Lucy Kings-Wheatley	01/12/2002	Lightweight – W60kg	England	Birmingham(Acocks Green)
Jack Dryden	07/02/2003	Lightweight – M60kg	England	Newcastle(Birtley Boxing Club)
Sacha Hickey	07/11/2003	Welterweight – W65kg	England	Eltham, London(Fisher Boxing Club)
Patris Mughalzai	14/06/2002	Welterweight – M65kg	England	Hillingdon, London (Powerday Hooks ABC)
Chantelle Reid	31/05/1998	Light-middleweight – W70kg	England	Derby(Kode Red Boxing)
Odel Kamara	22/12/2003	Light-middleweight – M70kg	England	Liverpool(Salisbury ABC)
Callum Makin	28/10/2003	Middleweight – M75kg	England	Liverpool(Rotunda ABC)
Dimeji Shittu	01/02/2002	Light-heavyweight – M80kg	England	Romford, London(Five Star ABC)
Teagn Stott	09/09/2003	Cruiserweight – M85kg	England	Sheffield(Sheffield Boxing Centre)
Isaac Okoh	08/03/2003	Heavyweight – M90kg	England	Grays, London(Chadwell St Mary)
Damar Thomas	31/12/2004	Super-heavyweight – M90+kg	England	Chiswick, London(Powerday Hooks ABC)

GB Boxing’s Performance Director, Rob McCracken, said: “It is still very early in the cycle for LA28 and this is a relatively inexperienced group, so this tournament will be a really good test for the boxers as the world championships is one of the toughest assignments in the boxing calendar.

“Having the event in Liverpool is great, as we do not have to travel far and can expect to get some home support, and means this is a really good opportunity for the boxers in our squad to make a statement and show that they have what it takes to operate at the highest level of the sport.”

Alongside the 16 boxers selected from the GB Boxing squad, the England team at the event will include four boxers at non-Olympic weights, selected by the national governing body (NGB), England Boxing, from its national programme.

The boxers selected by England Boxing are:

Boxer	D.O.B	Weight Class	Country	Hometown(Club)
Reece Readshaw	16/11/2003	Flyweight – M50kg	England	Middlesbrough(Phil Thomas SoB)
Mary-Kate Smith	23/10/2003	Middleweight – W75kg	England	Shrewsbury(Hook & Jab)
Emily Asquith	16/12/2002	Light-heavyweight – W80kg	England	Bridlington(Sheffield City)
Grace Buckle	27/08/1991	Heavyweight – W81kg +	England	Portsmouth(Heart of Portsmouth)

All 20 English boxers at the event will travel and operate as one team and will be overseen by coaches and support staff from GB Boxing and supported by England Boxing’s Lead National Coach, Amanda Coulson and Performance Coach, Dave Johnston.

The home nation teams for Scotland and Wales will be selected and managed at the competition by their respective NGBs, Boxing Scotland and Welsh Boxing.

The Wales team will not include anyone from the GB Boxing squad.

Three boxers from GB Boxing’s Academy Squad, Aaron Cullen (M55kg), Isa Akram (M60kg) and Sonny Kerr (M70kg), are in contention to be selected for the Scottish team when it is announced by Boxing Scotland.