Team GB’s Delicious Orie wants to follow in the Olympic footsteps of gym friend Joshua
TEAM GB’S Delicious Orie wants to follow in the Olympic footsteps of gym buddy Anthony Joshua.
European and Commonwealth Games superheavyweight gold medalist Orie is Britain’s biggest boxer to top the Paris podium.
And Orie, whose Midlands accent belies the fact he was actually born in Moscow, admitted training alongside AJ at Team GB’s headquarters in Sheffield has made him even more determined to come back with gold.
Orie said: “I only started taking boxing seriously after seeing AJ in London 2012.
“Then it really appealed to me. That is my first and greatest Olympic memory – until I do it!
“When I started, the guy everyone looked up to was Anthony Joshua.
“From then on it was in my head that I had to win a medal because this is what GB Boxing has done time and time again and proven time and time again.
“So it’s only right that I go out there and do that. To listen to the coaches and go out there and perform and just have complete belief and confidence in them and myself.
AJ was crowned king of the super heavyweights in London in 2012 before turning pro and becoming a two-time world champion.
The Watford star, 34, now has a third world crown in his sights after his demolition of former MMA fighter Francis Ngannou in two rounds in Saudi Arabia a fortnight ago.
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Orie turns 27 on May 31, two months before the Games start in Paris.
He added: “I’ve spoken to AJ a few times about what it’s like to step into that Olympic arena.
“It’s great because you can have these kinds of conversations with him outside the ring.
“I’m so lucky to be able to talk to him about these things. He gave me advice, both boxing advice and stuff for outside the ring.
“I just couldn’t have a better role model to look up to.”
Orie’s mother is Russian, his father Nigerian and he has a Ukrainian grandmother and cousins.
He came to England at the age of seven, settled in Wolverhampton, has a degree in economics from Aston University in Birmingham and reads books on finance in his spare time.
The ongoing situation in Ukraine remains “devastating and terrible” for Orie, but his heart is now very red, white and blue.
He added: “If I can win that gold medal for Team GB it will mean absolutely everything.
“It will be a way for me to say ‘thank you’ to the nation for giving me all the opportunities I have had so far.
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“I just collect everything and make the most of it.
“My job in Paris will be to inspire the next generation, just as I was inspired as a young adult.
“My boxing has evolved 100 percent over the last few years since I entered the Sheffield GB boxing camp.
“Every tournament I participate in, I feel inside that I am getting better and better.
“Not just physically and in terms of strength, because that’s just natural.
“But in being able to deal with pressure and expectations, being able to deal with the level of opposition and just going out there and winning.
“In terms of progression it is unparalleled. I feel happy these last few years.
“So this is the plan: the Olympics in Paris and then turn professional. And then heavyweight world champion in 2029.
“Early thirties, world champion, I will be happy with that.”
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