IF HE ISN’T in the gym or studying, Odel Kamara is answering his phone.
The news that World Boxing are bringing the World Championships to Liverpool in September has made him Mr Popular.
The next World Boxing Cup event, in Kazakhstan on June 30-July 7, will determine qualifiers for the World Championships and seeds, and given Kamara’s form, the 21-year-old from Salisbury is sure to be there.
He’s unbeaten in two World Boxing Cup events at 7 kgs – in Sheffield and Brazil – and has scalped Paris Olympian Sewon Okazawa and Misheelt Battumur, a bronze medallist at the 2023 World Championships.
Kamara says he’s won his last “12 or 13”, and his home city is looking forward to seeing him at the World Championship.
“My phone has blown up,” said Kamara.
“People keep ringing me asking for tickets. It’s mental, the support I’m getting.
“It’s going to be a really big event. With my supporters and my teammates, we will pack the place out. It’s going to be booming.”
Kamara has been in the crowd at the M&S Bank Arena to watch Tony Bellew, the Smith brothers and, more recently, Nick Ball.
“I go to every fight there,” he told Boxing News.
“It will be mental fighting there in front of everyone. There’s so much history there. I definitely think I can get there, and to win gold would be unbelievable.”
Liverpool is also a football city, of course.
“I played for the Academies at Liverpool and Everton, “ said Kamara, “but my brother has the footballer’s genes.”
Kaedyn Kamara currently plays for Preston North End, and Odel is a big football fan.
He was there when Liverpool were crowned Premier League Champions at Anfield last month with a 5-1 demolition of Tottenham Hotspur.
“I couldn’t be happier,” he said when Boxing News rang him a few days after he had seen the Reds lift domestic football’s top prize for a 20th time.
Kamara is from Wavertree and is a product of Salisbury ABC, known locally as ‘The Solly.’
“I started going to the kickboxing gym when I was three years old,” said Kamara. “Dad always trained, was into MMA and jiu-jitsu and used to take me on the pads, just messing around. But as I got older, I took it more seriously.”
Kamara earned a GB call-up after winning the Enrique Rodriguez Cal Under-22 Memorial – and then spent the next 12 months on the sidelines.
He suffered a hand injury in Spain and said: “I had surgery.
“When I was injured I was still training, running and using my back hand and when I came back I was firing.
“I was put straight into a tournament and I knew I was ready.”
Kamara won gold in Madrid again with a unanimous points win over 2024 NAC finalist Rio Gordon (Harwich) in the final, and better was to come when he faced Okazawa (Japan) in the final of the World Boxing Cup in Sheffield in November.
Okazawa had gone to Paris as the No 3 seed and Boxing News picked the Japanese slickster to win gold. But Kamara beat him unanimously.
“It was a big thing,” said the chatty Liverpudlian. “I could tell my coaches were a bit nervous. They were giving me lots of advice.
“I watched him in the semi-finals against the German [Magomed Schachidov] and realised he didn’t like pressure.
“The German wasn’t fast enough to catch him. He is slick. I watched that and thought: ‘If I’m first and don’t give him time to rest, it will go my way.’
“I put it on him straight away and it’s not easy to dodge and counter my shots.”
That is the best win on Kamara’s 65-5 record.
“My coaches say my strength is my speed,” he said. “I’m explosive and fast.
“It’s hard to stop me when I’m coming forward, but I can be defensive as well. I’m comfortable on the back foot. I can adapt.
“I start fast and if I’m up [on the scorecards], I try to cruise and show my flair.
“I respect everyone, but in the ring, I don’t give them too much respect. I put a lot of work in, and if they haven’t, I will give them nightmares.”
The boxer Kamara wants to give nightmares to is Hitesh Hitesh.
The Indian walked away with gold from the World Boxing Cup in Brazil after Kamara was forced to pull out through injury.
“I want to prove a point by beating him,” he said.
Kamara will therefore be the man to beat in Kazakhstan.
He is 5-0 so far in the World Boxing Cup – and all his wins have come by unanimous decision.
“I put it all down to my mum and dad [Amy and Kabbar] and the way they raised me, along with the coaches and the whole environment,” he said. “Everything in Liverpool has contributed to getting me where I am today.”
Kamara, who trains with Chris Bower at Salisbury at weekends, is up with the best in the world at 71kgs, but for all his potential, Kamara has a Plan B.
He is studying Biomedical Engineering at Bolton University and sees a possible future “making medical equipment for Paralympians, such as prosthetic legs”.
More information on the World Championships in Liverpool (September 4-15) is available at www.worldboxingliverpool.com
