Hopes will be high that Delicious Orie can follow in the footsteps of Anthony Joshua and win super-heavyweight gold for GB at the Olympic Games next year; Orie, the new European Games champion, says his journey will be slightly different but believes he can go all the way at Paris 2024
Tuesday 4 July 2023 19:32, UK
The pressure will now be on Delicious Orie after the GB super-heavyweight qualified for the 2024 Olympics and won the European Games on Sunday.
At that tournament in Poland he beat five top international super-heavies in consecutive bouts to take the gold medal.
It will raise hopes that he can become the first British super-heavyweight to win Olympic gold since Anthony Joshua at London 2012.
"For me I've got a slightly different journey," Orie told Sky Sports. "I'll still follow in his [Joshua's] footsteps but I've got a slightly different journey.
"I'm on this journey and not being pushed too quickly, even though I am a little bit - it's natural for a super-heavyweight to be pushed.
"I'm taking my time a little bit more."
Rather than rushing he wants to develop himself as a fighter and the Europeans last week were invaluable for that.
"The more fights I had, the more confident I got and the more relaxed I got in the ring. One of the biggest things I found out about myself in the last five fights I had - I know it sounds obvious - but the more relaxed I am in the ring, the better I perform. The more shots I can see, the better I can react to shots and it just flows so much better," Orie said.
"Being able to cope with that high pressure of intensity constantly for nine minutes, if you can nail that you go a long way and I feel like last week I was able to."
He intends to carry that on to Paris 2024.
"The experience that I got last week is absolutely priceless. I got five solid fights with good opponents that wanted to win and it's only given me more confidence now for the Olympics next year, knowing that I can go five fights and a lot more after, I could go all the way in the Olympic stages," he said.
"This is the first step on the journey and we go again in one year. I've got a long time to really apply myself even more, really sharpen my tools, not just physically but mentally as well and get to that level where I put myself in a position where I deserve that Olympic gold medal."
For the UK he will be seen as a key medal prospect. But he believes he can handle that expectation.
"So there was pressure [at the European Games]. But I just treated it one by one. I didn't know who I'd drawn, apart from the guy I was boxing next. I didn't really care about the draw or anything like that. I just got on with it and I didn't make it more than what it was. I feel like that really helped me progress through the tournament," he said.
That worked for him in Poland at the Europeans. His gold medal triumph there saw him honoured with carrying the Union flag for Team GB at the closing ceremony.
That was a uniquely special moment for Orie. The son of Russian and Nigerian parents, his family left Russia for the UK when he was a child.
He could not speak English when he first came to Britain. But he gained an education and a university degree, although he had a battle to resolve his citizenship status to enable him even to box for Britain.
Orie's already experienced his own Olympic heartbreak. "I remember being told by lawyers I would not get a British passport on time for the 2024 Paris Olympics," he said. "There have been times when I lost complete hope.
"Persevering and trying things out, we got there in the end."
Qualifying for Paris 2024 last week therefore was personally momentous.
"I got very, very emotional to say the least," he reflected. "When you work so hard for something, waking up every day, training camps, taking beatings, losing teeth and then still having to be strong and still having that positive mindset to be like. 'I'm going to qualify for the Olympics', and then it actually happening.
"You just look back and think it was all worth it.
"I actually got what I put into it. Because, especially in boxing, it can be a bit sad, where you work so hard and you don't get the results and you think I put so much into it, I didn't get anything back.
"When it happens and it all works together, it's this magical feeling that I want to feel for the rest of my life. But unfortunately it's a cycle that I've got to keep chasing!"
Listen to Delicious Orie on the latest episode of the Toe2Toe podcast
