Dudley star to represent GB at world boxing championships

The 22-year-old is part of a 16-strong team for the event, which will take place on home soil in Liverpool between September 4 and 14.

It represents another step up for Oakley, who is entering her third year on the GB podium squad and has aspirations of competing at next summer’s Commonwealth Games, with the LA 2028 Olympics the ultimate long-term target.

“This is the biggest tournament I have boxed at so far. Then, hopefully, next year can be even bigger,” said Oakley, who will compete in the under-51kgs category.

“I am really pleased to have been selected. There are two of us on the podium squad who compete at the weight.

“In my head, probably yeah I was expecting to get the nod. But it was a 50/50 chance and could have gone the other way if they picked her.”

Oakley’s selection will be particularly celebrated at Priory Park ABC, the club where she learned her trade and won multiple national titles before first being picked as a funded athlete on the GB squad in 2022.

A former kickboxer who has a black belt in that sport, Oakley was fast-tracked onto the podium squad just a few months later and now spends at least four days a week training at the Sheffield Institute of Sport, the former home of countless Olympic medallists.

Already this year she has competed in Kazakhstan, Finland, Poland and Bulgaria, meaning the home world championships offer friends and family a rare chance to watch her fight in the flesh.

Oakley said: “Even though it’s Liverpool, it is still in this country and we rarely have things so local. I think my dad has already booked the time off work!

“This is my third year on the podium squad and it really doesn’t feel that long. When you are here it all goes so quick.

“To start with it is difficult, getting used to it. Usually you start on the academy, which is every two weeks.

“But I got fast-tracked straight away to the podium squad and didn’t really have any time to settle. So I was straight into camp, Monday to Thursday. It was a big change and was hard at first but I feel at home now.”

Oakley is still a familiar face at Priory Park and trains at the club when not in Sheffield. A trainee teaching assistant before getting the GB call-up, she is set to resume her studies in September after the world championships, doing part of the course at the club’s own community school on Dudley’s Wren’s Nest estate.

But it is in the ring where she wants to make the biggest mark.

“It doesn’t feel like a job,” she said. “I enjoy it and I get paid to do it. So I am happy with that.”

The GB selection is made of seven women and nine men.

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.

“It 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.”