Prince William offered training session by gold medal-winning boxer
Prince William offered training session by gold medal-winning boxer
Jeremy WilsonSat, August 1, 2026 at 4:26 PM UTC
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England’s Commonwealth Games heavyweight champion Isaac Okoh celebrates gold - James Fearn/Getty Images
The Prince and Princess of Wales missed Team England’s boxing gold rush at the Commonwealth Games on Saturday, but have been invited for a pad session with new heavyweight champion Isaac Okoh.
The Royal couple, alongside their three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, watched the Australia-Jamaica netball semi-final before heading to the track cycling, but opted against seeing a record-equalling seven English boxing finalists.
The Prince of Wales with Princess Charlotte at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome - Andrew Milligan/PA
Okoh, who completed Team England’s three out of three wins in the lunchtime boxing session, was told that the Royal family had earlier been watching the netball.
“I don’t know what they’re into,” Okoh said. “They might come down and enjoy the fights. The atmosphere has been great this week so hopefully one day they might see me box.”
And, with Arthur Fery offering tennis lessons to the royals following his surge to the Wimbledon semi-finals, might Okoh offer a boxing demonstration “If he [William] wants a pad session, tell him to call me… but the fee is quite high,” Okoh, grinning after just receiving the gold medal and hearing Jerusalem ring out around the SEC Centre, said.
Okoh stands on the winner’s podium with his gold medal - James Fearn/Getty Images
Sacha Hickey and Okoh’s flat-mate, Patris Mughalzai, had just also won gold in the space of two hours, with a further four English finalists still to box later on Saturday. It is already the most finalists England have ever had at a Commonwealth Games but they would need a clean sweep of four victories in the early-evening session to surpass the six golds from the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Many of the best British amateur boxers live together in flats in Sheffield, training daily and gathering for big pay-per-view fight nights, as part of the Team GB Olympic squad under the tutelage of performance director Rob McCracken. “It’s a tight-knit group, everyone helps out, we cook for each other,” Okoh said. “We’re all achieving amazing things at the minute. Rob knows everything that’s going on in Sheffield – it’s a great environment and a brilliant group of people to train with.
“Come LA [2028 Olympics], I’ll be looking to win another gold medal. You’re going to see us back at the top of the podium again.”
Hickey, from Eltham in south east London, began boxing at a gym on the Ferrier Estate in Kidbrooke when she was “five or six” and the only girl in the gym. “I mainly sparred all the boys, and my brother Aaron was around the same weight as me, so we’d have a move about together as well,” the 22-year-old, who would also practice on her Nintendo Wii, said. “I remember shadow-boxing in front of the TV and somehow I’ve ended up here today.”
Sacha Hickey with her gold medal as Jerusalem plays - James Fearn/Getty Images
Mughalzai said that former Olympic champion James DeGale was his boxing hero and had been personally helping in his preparation for the Games.
The wider British team also achieved notable success, with Northern Ireland’s Jon McConnell edging out the Welsh fighter Orlando Holley-Sotomi in the men’s 70kg final. McConnell turned down the chance to appear on the 13th series of Love Island ahead of the Commonwealth Games and stressed that boxing – and the LA Olympics – is his focus. “Everybody thinks I’m just this pretty-boy boxer type of thing, but I’m a hard man to beat, and stubborn, and I showed it today,” he said, of the decision to be trading punches in Glasgow rather than sunning himself in front of a TV camera in Mallorca.
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Northern Ireland’s Jon McConnell snubbed Love Island to win gold - Steve Welsh/PA
“If I had not got through the first round maybe I’d have thought I didn’t make the right decision [on Love Island] but I’ve got the gold medal now,” he added. “I can put that on my CV now. If they want to reach out they have my number.
“I was aware of it in the training camp [the Love Island story] when everyone was laughing and joking about it, but boxing comes first. It’s been a goal since I was eight or nine years of age. I worked for it every day, and the hard work paid off. He caught me well in the first round. But I changed my tactics. It was like the bull and the matador and I’m the matador and I won the day, thank God.”
Jamaica stun Australia in netball semi-finals
Jamaica pulled off one of the biggest shocks in netball history to beat defending champions Australia and reach the Commonwealth Games final.
The “Sunshine Girls” clung on for a famous 46-45 win after Australia’s Sophie Dwyer missed a three-foot shot in the final second. It is the first time Australia have failed to reach the final since netball was introduced to the Games in 1998 and means the Diamonds will now face England in Sunday’s bronze-medal match.
In scenes reminiscent of England’s last-gasp, gold-medal win on the Gold Coast in 2018, the final buzzer sparked wild celebrations as Jamaica’s substitutes poured onto the court to engulf their team-mates. They will now face New Zealand, who beat England 61-54, in the other semi-final.
Jamaica celebrate their stunning win - Lintao Zhang/Getty Images
England must now rouse themselves for a rematch with the Australians, who thumped them 66-47 earlier in the competition.
The Roses simply had no answer to 6ft 4in New Zealand goal shooter Grace Nweke, who dominated the opening half, as they slid to a five-point deficit at half-time.
The introduction of Eleanor Cardwell provided more of a threat front, but otherwise the changes rung by Anna Stembridge in the third quarter failed to pay off, with mistakes in the centre sapping any hopes of gaining momentum.
The final quarter was rendered increasingly redundant as New Zealand eased away to record an emphatic win.
New Zealand celebrate their victory over England - Owen Humphreys/PA
Cardwell, who was part of the England team that lost the bronze-medal match to the Silver Ferns four years ago, stressed the importance of refocusing on Sunday’s game.
“I don’t want that feeling again,” Cardwell said. “I think that’s going to add extra fuel to the fire. We need to really want it tomorrow, and I know we really want it, we want to come away with a medal.
“Obviously, the bronze isn’t all we wanted, but that’s the one that we are going to fight for now. We’ve got to go back, recover well, and have the conversation about what we’re going to do tomorrow.”
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
