Perhaps Rob McCracken should take notes from Arsène Wenger, so to speak, when the World Amateur Boxing Championships begin in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Monday (September 26). For like the Arsenal boss in the Champions League of late, Britain's head coach has been banished to the stands - or in his case somewhere in the darkened arena - when his squad members enter in the ring.

The reason for is of course the refusal by international governing body AIBA to permit coaches associated with the professional side of the sport to work the corner at world and Olympic tournaments. My views on this newly exhumed rule have been well aired here. So I have no wish to acerbate then situation as I understand that Mark Abberley, the new chief executive of the ABA of England, who will be in Baku, is making some progress towards repairing the rift with AIBA caused by the kamikaze act of his predecessor Paul King in attempting to unseat President Dr C K Wu.

Let's hope for his part that Dr Wu, the ambitious Taiwanese billionaire who made his fortune in the construction business, is now in the market for another spot of bridge building.

McCracken himself remains phlegmatically unfazed by having to do a Wenger.

"Obviously I would like to have been in the corner," he tells me. "But we have good coaches on our team who are capable of carrying out the necessary instructions. There seems to be work in progress in sorting out this situation which we hope will be resolved in time for the Olympics."


There is no doubt that McCracken's own professional background, a gutsy former British middleweight champion, world title contender and now long-time training guru to Britain's world super-middleweight champion Carl Froch (himself a world amateur bronze medallist), has rubbed off a squad which seems to have real medal chances both in Baku next week and next year in London.

They have benefited not only from McCracken's expertise but also from working out and occasionally sparring with Froch, of whom McCracken says: "Carl is a fantastic role model. He travels up from his home in Nottingham to train with us in Sheffield and some of the speed work they do, the movement and skills, they've picked up from him. He has no airs and graces. He joins in. Looking at him they see what dedication and hard work can get you in life."

But more than that 43-year-old Brummie McCracken has reinvigorated them with the same team spirit and self-belief which was the hallmark of GB's best Olympics for over half a century, with a gold and two bronze medals in Beijing.

With a bit of luck they might emulate that in 2012, with the added prospect of at least one female fighter on the rostrum when the ladies who punch make their Olympic debut.

A world championship gold to follow the first-ever won by a Brit, lightweight Frankie Gavin, four years ago would be a welcome bonus for the Olympic run-in.

McCracken is hopeful. "Our squad a mixture of experience and talent and we are in a good place going into these championships."

GB will be looking for medals from the likes of Welshmen Andrew Selby (52g) and Fred Evans (69kg), who won Euro titles in Turkey; 2010 Commonwealth Games champion and two-time European silver medallist, Tom Stalker (64kg), the sparky Scouser team captain; 2010 European silver medallist and Beijing Olympian Khalid Yafai (52kg), and 18-year-old, Charlie Edwards (pictured below right) (49kg) who won a surprise bronze at the European Championships, and according to McCracken "is a breath of fresh air".


He says of the cheeky-chappie light-flyweight from Croydon. "He may have a baby face but he doesn't fight like a baby. He could well be one of the faces of 2012."

My personal fancy is for the former European champion Luke Campbell at 56kg, one of the likeliest lads for 2012 who underscored his aspirations by twice paying his own way to train in Freddie Roach's Wild Card gym in Los Angeles, workplace of Manny Pacquiao and Amir Khan.

Incidentally, Roach has just spent a fortnight honing the US team at their national training centre in Colorado Springs, bringing in seven professionals from his own stable to work with them.

He is not going to Baku because of his commitments with Pacquiao but wants to be in London next year, though as things stand he will be sitting with McCracken in the bowels of the ExCeL Centre because of the corner ban US boxing sources have described as "despotic".

It will be interesting to see if the US amateurs, with a little help from Roach, can fight their way out of the doldrums. Their recent record at world and Olympic level has been abysmal.

McCracken says these world championships, the first of two Olympic qualifying events, will be tough. "The stakes are high. The Germans and Russians did not field all their number ones in the Europeans. But we have shown in the last couple of years we can hold our own anywhere in the world."

This is true, notably this year with a shoal of international tournament medals, 33 in all including 13 golds.

"The Olympics will be even tougher because of the pressure and media spotlight, though home advantage will be a big boost. My take has always been to get as many medals as possible in London."

GB will have five automatic qualifying places for men and one for women. "But we are looking for more than that," said McCracken (Britain had eight in Beijing though Gavin did not compete because of weight problems).


The amiable McCracken has done a first rate job in his two years since taking over after a messy spell which followed the equally messy departure of hugely successful Olympic coach Terry Edwards (pictured), who is now involved in organising the 2012 boxing tournament.

"What we have now is a completely professional unit in every sense," says McCracken. "More professional than the professionals with our team of coaches and support staff.

"Things are so different now from my own amateur days. There were times when I went into tournaments not fully fit, which probably was the same for everybody then.

"There's only so much you can do in two or three training weekends.

"Now we have the squad together in Sheffield [at the English Institute of Sport] all the time. They live and work like pros. The boxers we have now are real athletes.

"Thanks to funding, every need is catered for and all our boxers are full time. They are able to benefit from overseas training camps like the one we had with the Russians up in the Caucus Mountains.

"Having this funding in place is wonderful. It gives us the chance to show the world what we can do."

That opportunity will certainly come in Azerbaijan, from where McCracken returns after the final day of the championships, arriving at Heathrow at 1pm then swapping hats - and planes - to fly five hours later to the US to be with WBC champion Froch in his final preparations for the title unifying Super Six showdown in Atlantic City on 29 October with unbeaten WBA champion Andre Ward, the last American to win Olympic gold in 2004.

What a pro!

Alan Hubbard is an award-winning sports columnist for The Independent on Sunday, and a former sports editor of The Observer. He has covered a total of 16 Summer and Winter Olympics, 10 Commonwealth Games, several football World Cups and world title fights from Atlanta to Zaire.