As one of Great Britain’s brightest amateur prospects, Odel Kamara appeared destined for a shot at Olympic glory in Los Angeles in 2028. Instead, the Liverpool standout has opted to forgo the amateur route and turn professional at just 22 years old, believing the move will better serve his long-term ambitions.
Fighting out of Salisbury ABC, Kamara won seven national titles and the Senior Elite Championship. Meanwhile, for GB Boxing, he claimed gold medals at both the Dacal Memorial World Cup and the World Boxing Cup in late 2024, and could have retained the latter in 2025 were it not for an injury that forced him to withdraw from the final.
The highlight of Kamara’s amateur career came back in September, when the World Boxing Championships made their way to his hometown of Liverpool. In his backyard, Kamara picked up the bronze medal in the 70kg category at the age of just 21, beaten only by eventual gold medallist Torekhan Sabyrkhan of Kazakhstan in the semi-finals.
As a result, many tipped Kamara as one of Team GB’s strongest hopes of a boxing medal at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games. Yet Kamara has decided that he won’t compete, instead favouring a move into the professional version of the sport.
Speaking with Boxing News, Kamara provided some insight into his decision, believing that additional professional experience will serve him better in the long run than the pursuit of a medal in L.A.
“I have decided to turn over in the end mainly for tactical reasons. A lot of people like to say being 24/25 when I turn over is perfect, I’ll have loads of experience, hopefully an Olympic gold medal and be pushed towards world title fights sooner. But, all of this ended up convincing me to go the other way because I believe in perfecting your craft, which can take years.
“At 22 years old I can perfect my pro boxing style and still be in contention for massive fights by time I’m 25/26 with a lot more experience then I would have had going the Olympics because, at the end of the day, pro and amateur boxing are different sports entirely.”
With that in mind, Kamara is content to bide his time and improve both his ability and profile before throwing himself in at the deep end of the super-welterweight division, where he confirmed he plans to campaign.
The Liverpudlian, managed by Sam Jones, has adopted a similar approach behind the scenes, planning to be patient when selecting who will be in his corner when he makes his professional debut.
“With me, I feel like there’s no actual rush. I would rather take a month or two to find the right coach, train hard and then whatever happens, happens. I’ll get some rounds in and when my team decide it’s the right time for titles, I won’t hesitate to take whatever one is in front of me.
“I am definitely going to travel around the UK, and possibly even the US [to identify the correct trainer], who knows? I just want the best guy possible for the job, I’m not taking anything lightly. I’m all in on becoming the best now, so whoever my team and I decide is the guy for the job will play a pivotal role.”
Still, despite not yet appointing a lead trainer, Kamara is aiming to make his professional debut before the end of 2026. There, he hopes to deliver a performance that puts the super-welterweight, middleweight and super-middleweight divisions on notice.
“Super-welterweight seems like the future of boxing right now with so many high-level contenders. I can see myself becoming top of the division someday and then transitioning through to middle and super-middle and doing the same there.
“I feel like my style will adapt perfectly to the pros. My speed, power and explosiveness will be expressed a lot easier and way more effectively with slower paced fights. I’m built for this.
“This year is going to be graft, but at the end of it, people will know I’m the future of boxing.”
News regarding Kamara’s promoter is expected imminently – he will not have been short of offers ahead of what could prove to be both a fascinating and fruitful professional career.
