GB box a draw with Rest of the World

GB Boxing continued its preparations for the 2012 Olympics with a closely fought 6-6 draw against a Rest of the World team at the CIA in Cardiff on Friday night.

In front of an audience of more than 1000 fans, including WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko and a host of former world champions, a Great Britain team of men and women built up an early lead with wins for Nicola Adams (51Kg), Luke Campbell (57Kg), Tom Stalker (60Kg), Scott Cardle (64Kg), Savannah Marshall (69Kg) and Anthony Ogogo (75Kg).

But the team was pegged back as the Rest of the World, drawn from China, Sweden, Ireland and the USA, narrowly secured victory in two closely fought final bouts which could have gone either way.

Great Britain's stand-out performances came from Scott Cardle, who overpowered Ireland's recent European bronze medallist Ross Hickey 20-12, and Tom Stalker who defeated Duran Caffero of the USA, 16-7.

Nicola Adams continued her return from injury with an impressive stoppage of Sweden's Shipra Nilsson. 19-year-old Savannah Marshall was equally commanding with a powerful 10-1 win over Swedish teen prodigy Love Holgersson.

ABA middleweight champion, Anthony Ogogo and former European bantamweight champion Luke Campbell both looked comfortable as they defeated Ireland's Jason Quigley and Juan Tan of China respectively.

Local boys, Fred Evans and Andrew Selby, endured a frustrating evening on their return to Wales against top-class opposition. Andrew Selby lost 16-11 to China's Jiawel Zhang and Fred Evans was outpointed 15-9 by Errol Spence of the USA.

"The team acquitted themselves very well against high quality opposition and I felt we were very unlucky to not win the contest outright," said GB Boxing's Performance Director, Rob McCracken.

"There are a lot of positives to take from the encounter and I am pleased with the progress both the men and women's squads are making as we build towards 2012."

Results:

51kg Nicola Adams won by a stoppage (Round 4) against Shipra Nilsson (Sweden)

54kg Andrew Selby lost 11-16 to Jiawei Zhang (China)

57kg Luke Campbell won 11-5 against Juan Tan (China)

60kg Amanda Coulson lost 6-10 to Helena Falk (Sweden)

60kg Tom Stalker won 16-7 against Duran Cafferro (USA)

64kg Scott Cardle won 20-12 against Ross Hickey (Ireland)

69kg Savannah Marshall won 10-1 against Love Holgersson (Sweden)

69kg Fred Evans lost 9-15 to Errol Spence (USA)

75kg Anthony Ogogo won 7-4 against Jason Quigley (Ireland)

81kg Obed Mbwakongo lost 3-10 to Fanlong Meng (China)

91kg Warren Baister lost 4-8 to Babacar Camara (Sweden)