For Odel Kamara, the Amateur Boxing World Championships couldn’t have landed anywhere better than Liverpool.
The city is where his boxing story began, and this week it becomes the backdrop to the biggest test of his career. The annual event will kick off this Thursday at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool, England, and will be the first major tournament governed by the organization World Boxing.
For Kamara, who will compete in the 70kg division, it feels less like coincidence and more like destiny that his opportunity to cement himself as the next boxing star has come right on his doorstep.
“It feels meant to be more than anything, because obviously this is my first major tournament and it's just crazy to think it's in my home city,” Kamara told BoxingScene. “So, I'm gonna have the home crowd advantage and I'm prepared. I'm fitter than ever and stronger than ever.”
Liverpool is rich in fight history, with some of the UK’s finest fighters learning their craft in one of the many amateur clubs dotted around the city. Boxers are respected highly by the locals, almost idolized, which makes it the perfect home for a tournament where the next generation of stars attempt to make a name for themselves.
“It's just such an honour to have it here, because obviously Liverpool has hosted so many great boxing events, we've got so much boxing history,” Kamara said. “And obviously I've got my family behind me, and my friends, my club. Yeah, it's just gonna be great.”
That honour has also brought expectation, and Kamara’s face has become the symbol of the event.
Fighting at home has its perks, but it also brings added pressure to perform under the spotlight. Kamara has become the face of the tournament – quite literally. His image is plastered across the city, shown at Liverpool FC matches, and even carried him into the Sky Sports Studio for media duties.
Some might imagine that’s a heavy load for a 21-year-old ahead of the biggest tournament of his life, but Kamara has taken it all in stride.
“It just excites me and pushes me even more, because I'm ready to make everyone proud now,” he said. “Sky was a crazy experience. I was dead nervous at first. I never usually get nervous for anything, really. Everyone made me feel dead comfortable, and then we just got talking and got into the flow a bit, and then I was fine. I loved it. I loved everything about it.
“It's crazy. In Liverpool already, as a national champion, you get stopped in the street and stuff, and people are like, ‘Yes, Odel.’ Do you know what I mean? With this going on, people see you and they point at you and stuff. I've been asked for pictures in the past. It's crazy. It's preparing me for the pros, and everything that'll come with that when I turn over.”
Kamara knows the weight of expectation isn’t just about fighting at home – it’s about ending a drought that stretches back nearly two decades.
Britain hasn’t had a male World Championship gold medallist since Frankie Gavin back in 2007, but after already having success in tournaments for Team GB, he believes he can be the one to change that.
“I know it’s time to get the gold, to be honest,” Kamara said. “I know it’s big boots to fill, but I’ve got 100 per cent belief in myself and pure confidence, and I know I can win this gold.
“I just think we always fall short, and we have people who could go and do it, and I don’t know, they might bottle it, they might not. I haven’t really watched it in the past to make a full conclusion about it, but I just think the right person hasn’t come, and I think I’m that person now.”
For Kamara, this is only the first step.
This writer spent nearly 10 years training with Kamara at the famous Salisbury Amateur Boxing Club in Liverpool. As far back as I can remember, the Olympics have always been the goal.
Even as a 17-year-old who had just secured a place at university, he brushed off this writer’s congratulations with a promise: he wouldn’t need a degree, because he was going to become an Olympian. That unwavering belief, first voiced on the Everton hills in Liverpool, now fuels his pursuit of gold on home soil.
“The Olympic gold is the dream still, I'm just taking it one fight at a time though, so I focus on a different stage, at each point, you know what I mean, so right now it's just the World Championships, that's my dream right now. That'll be it, and then take it to the next point, and win that, and then just keep winning basically is the dream.”
That dream started 13 years ago, when Kamara was just eight, and few who know of his skills and commitment would bet against him turning it into reality.
“I think I'd say it was, when I was watching the London 2012 Olympics [that the dream started],” he said. “I think it must have been then, when I was boxing. I just felt like that's where I belonged, like, I should be there, and I will be there one day. I didn't contemplate how much hard work it was going to be. I was just like, that's where I'm going to be one day, and it just felt normal then.”
Still just 21 years old, Kamara has the world at his feet. He has already been contacted by some high profile managers trying to tempt him to make the switch to the professional ranks.
“I've definitely got unfinished business in the amateurs, but we'll see what happens, you don't know what happens in the future,” Kamara said. “I just know, right now, I'm going to perform in the amateurs, going to keep winning, keep winning gold medals, and we'll see what the future holds. I think I'll be the next Liverpool world champion, to be honest.”
Kamara learnt his craft at one of the finest institutes for boxing in the UK, the Salisbury Amateur Boxing Club – or The Solly as it’s more commonly known. Now headed by former British flyweight champion Paul Edwards, the club has churned out top fighters such as David Price, Sam Maxwell, Derry Matthews and 1996 Atlanta Olympian David Burke.
“I owe The Solly a lot of credit, to be honest. They've been with me since I was a kid,” Kamara said. “I owe my coach, Chris Bower, loads of credit. And then, you know, before I went to The Solly, before I started boxing, I was with Mushin-Kai, which is a kickboxing gym. I think they gave me a lot of my fundamentals as well. I still box a little bit like that. I've incorporated the two styles of kickboxing and boxing. And I think that's what makes me so unique right now, that people can't really figure me out.”
Success came early. By the time he had claimed every youth title in sight, the young Liverpudlian already felt destined for bigger stages.
“I'd say it was when I won the youths [I knew I could achieve big things], because pretty much I'd won every title up until then,” he said. “So I'd won the youths, and that's when it landed again then, you know what I mean? I thought I was going to go with the Europeans, the Worlds and all. That's when COVID hit. Yeah, there was a little break and stuff, and we were a bit stagnant after that. But yeah, up until then, it was like, I won the youths and everybody was thinking of me as the next big thing.”
Alongside his early successes, mentors helped refine raw talent and unique style into a polished weapon. Time spent at the Joe Gallagher Academy with Tony Challinor and Elliot Dillon, coupled with guidance from his coaches at the Salisbury Amateur Boxing Club, shaped Kamara’s natural athleticism into a formidable and unpredictable style.
“I was in the Joe Gallagher Academy with Tony Challinor, so we ended up getting really close,” Kamara said. “He was coaching me every day. He worked a lot on my feet, moving, hitting and not getting hit, stuff like that, you know what I mean? Yeah, I love Tony, and I'll always have loads of respect for him. Him and Chris Bower, they both kind of tamed the style. Like, working together, and just made my fundamentals a bit stronger. Yeah, basically, tamed me from this… because I was explosive and I had all the natural athlete abilities, and he kind of just took them and tamed me into a proper boxer, but kept all them as well, you know what I mean?”
Kamara’s athleticism and style have drawn comparisons to Roy Jones Jr. from an early age.
‘Yeah, he was my favourite boxer,” he said. “Him and Sugar Ray Leonard are my all time favourite boxers. He's just a legend. I met [Jones Jnr] for the first time during the Usyk-Dubois II fight. It was crazy. He came over and shook my hand and stuff, we got a picture, and yeah, it was really good, it was good to see him. We were just talking about my coach over in Dubai, and like how we used to train with him as well. It was good.
For Kamara, meeting his heroes is just another step on the journey, one that this week brings full circle, right in the city where it all began.
For those wishing to attend the World Championships in Liverpool, tickets are on sale at £15 for Adults and £5 for Concessions (U16, OAPs, Students and those in receipt of benefits). For tickets, the schedule and all the latest news about the Championships visit www.worldboxingliverpool.com