Champion: Delicious Orie
(Picture: Getty Images)Delicious Orie was the first to admit that Golden Delicious had a good ring to it after recovering from a tough start to win Commonwealth Games super heavyweight boxing gold.
But having emulated the achievements of fellow Englishmen Joe Joyce and Frazer gold at the past two Games, he instead set his sights on emulating the wins of another countryman in Anthony Joshua.
Orie has made no secret in the past that it was Joshua who inspired step into the ring in the first place, and the pair have sparred at the GB Boxing base in Sheffield where Joshua has prepared for many of his professional as well as amateur fights.
The latest man mountain of a seemingly endless conveyer belt within the British boxing fraternity is Orie, who at 6ft 6in has already mapped out plans for world and Olympic titles before joining Joshua, Joyce and Clarke in the professional ranks.
“My inspiration has always been Anthony Joshua and what he has achieved is the bare minimum,” he said of emulating Joshua, who is bidding to win back his heavyweight world titles against Oleksandr Usyk in less than two weeks. “I am the next generation and we are going to excel. The sky is only the limit. Anything is possible.”
Few have a more intriguing back story within British sport than Orie, who was born in Moscow to a Nigerian father and Russian mother but the family moved to England after suffering years of racist abuse.
Within four years, they had settled in Wolverhampton – just a few miles from Birmingham 2022 - but it wasn’t until the age of 18 when the 25-year-old Orie first took up boxing. It was only then that he’d heard of Joshua by then facing the 18th fight of his professional career having previously won gold at London 2012.
The first sporting love was basketball and there had been aspirations of a college scholarship to play the game in the United States only for his path to be quashed by not being able to secure a British passport in time.
Disillusioned, he turned to a new sport as well as threw himself into his university studies going on to get a first in economics and management, not an academic CV necessarily shared by his peers in the ring.
In the 215th and final bout of the Commonwealth boxing in Birmingham it seemed apt that the most local of fighters should take to the ring.
Orie, who had looked so impressive in the earlier rounds, immediately fell behind on all the judges’ cards in the opening round against Sagar Ahlawat.
But undeterred he fought back to level the scores across the cards as the tiring Indian increasingly took to holding his opponent after a solitary punch as the tiredness kicked in.
By the time of the third round, Orie was in the ascendancy and the home fans erupted with joy as he was declared the deserving gold medallist.
Dissecting his fight, he said: “I was an emotional wreck earlier but, when the bell went, I knew I had it in the bag. The only way I did it was through the support of the fans.
“I had two ronds to prove myself and I’d never heard a roar like that. The English fans are the best in the world and I was determined to not let anyone else win. I’ve never felt anything like this. I might have been doubted but I will always prove people wrong.
“I am so proud to be English and hopefully I’ve made everybody proud. I will be doing this until the Paris Olympics when I turn professional. The England flag will be with me forever.” The only other gold for Team England in the boxing ring went to another local fighter in Lewis Williams, the fighter from Leamington Spa beating Samoa’s Ato Leau Plodzicki-Faoagali in the heavyweight division.
