Interview with Thomas Stalker: GB Boxing Captain

If
successful, Stalker, who was overlooked for the Beijing Olympics in
favour of Frankie Gavin, would become the first boxer in history to do
so, having collected Commonwealth Games gold in 2010, world bronze last
year and two European silver medals since 2010.

But
while Beijing 2008 gold medalist James DeGale, and the majority of the
British squad, saw his head turned by the lure of the professional
ranks after his Olympic exploits, Stalker is taking drastic measures to
ensure he doesn’t fall into the same trap.

“Anthony
(Joshua) and I have both agreed that after the Games we want to go to
somewhere in the third world so that when we come back to England we
appreciate what we have,” said Stalker.

“We’ve
made a pact that if we both win a medal we will go to a poor country.
We want to come back down to earth and visit people less well off than
us.

“The
dream is to get a medal at these Games, that would just be the icing on
the cake for me, I’ve got every other medal there is to get as an
amateur so to get the full set would be great.

“I would go down as the first boxer in history to medal in every major and that would be amazing, it’s a huge incentive.

“I’m
happy being an amateur at the moment, representing my country is what
makes me proud and I know that after the Games it’s all going to get
pretty crazy.”

While
Gavin didn’t exactly do Great Britain proud in Beijing – he failed to
make the required weight and could not compete – the rest of the squad
certainly did, collecting one gold medal and two bronzes to reap GB’s
most successful Olympic boxing medal haul for 52 years.

Recent
history shows however, that Stalker and co have what it takes to top
that – Andrew Selby, Luke Campbell and Anthony Joshua are all world
silver medalists while all three female boxers reached the podium at
May’s World Championships in China. But Stalker is refusing to make any
bold predictions.

“I
would be silly to stand here now and start making bold statements about
what I’m going to do, I will need a lot of luck to win that gold
medal,” he said. 

“We’ve
got great fighters in every weight category there is no doubt about
that, but there are great fighters all over the world.

By Barrie White

Lloyds TSB, proud supporter of Team GB and proud
partner of the London 2012 Olympic Games.  Get closer to the Games at lloydstsb.com/london2012