Delicious Orie underlined his position as the next British super-heavyweight star in the making as he claimed gold for England at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. 

Great Britain has made the podium at all bar one Olympic Games this Century. Audley Harrison (2000) and Anthony Joshua (2012) claimed gold, Joe Joyce won silver (2016), while David Price (2008) and Frazer Clarke (2020) claimed bronze. 

In the case of all bar Joshua, Olympic success was preceded by Commonwealth Games gold two years before. 

And Orie, 25, looks the next of the GB Boxing production line, as he beat Sagar Ahlawat, of India, by a unanimous decision in the final at the NEC Birmingham. 

Born in Moscow to a Nigerian father and Russian mother, Orie moved to the West Midlands when he was seven and was very much the local lad in Birmingham, having studied at the University of Birmingham and started boxing there. There were ecstatic scenes at the NEC as he came back from losing the first round on all three cards to sweep the cards for the second and third rounds. 

“When the final bell went, I knew I had it in the bag and the only way I did it was through the support of the fans,” Orie said. “After the first round, I knew I was down and I had two rounds to prove myself and I have never heard a roar like I did today.I am so proud to be English and British. English fans are amazing, they are the best in the world. 

“I have never felt anything like this. The crowd were amazing. It is like a drug now, I am addicted to it. I can’t wait over the next few years as I continue with my boxing career bringing the English fans together and watch Delicious Orie box. This is what I live for now.” 

The Games were a huge success for Northern Ireland, which topped the boxing medal table with five golds, including brother and sister Aidan and Michaela Walsh, who won at light-middleweight and featherweight respectively. Aidan who won Olympic bronze in Tokyo, had won a silver medal at the last Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast in 2018, but for Michaela it was third time lucky, as she beat Nigeria’s Elizabeth Oshoba, having won silver in 2018 and in 2014 in Glasgow, when she lost to Nicola Adams in the flyweight final. 

The other gold medals for Northern Ireland were won by Dylan Eagleson and Jude Gallagher – in the men’s bantamweight and featherweight – and Amy Broadhurst, in the women’s lightweight. 

The Walshes were not the only family on the podium. Ioan Croft won gold for Wales at welterweight, while his identical twin brother Garan claimed light-middleweight bronze. 

Six boxing medals was a record for Wales, while Rosie Eccles won gold as she beat Australia’s Kaye Scott in the women’s light-middleweight final. 

England won the most medals (eight), but only two golds, with heavyweight Lewis Williams matching Orie’s success. 

There were three gold medals for both Scotland and India. Reese Lynch, Sam Hickey and Sean Lazzerini topped the podium for Scotland at light-welterweight, middleweight and light-heavyweight respectively, while India’s three golds came from Amit Panghal, at flyweight, and minimum and light-flyweight in the women’s division from Nitu Ghanghas and Nikhat Zareen. 

Canada’s Tammara Thibeault won the women’s middleweight gold medal. 

Ron Lewis is a senior writer for BoxingScene. He was Boxing Correspondent for The Times, where he worked from 2001-2019 - covering four Olympic Games and numerous world title fights across the globe. He has written about boxing for a wide variety of publications worldwide since the 1980s.