AUSTRALIAN TRIO TO KICK OFF WORLD BOXING CHAMPIONSHIPS FRIDAY NIGHT

Australia will have three boxers in action when the opening day of the 2017 men’s World Boxing Championships kick off in Hamburg, Germany, tonight.

Middleweight Campbell Somerville, light flyweight Alex Winwood and bantamweight Sam Goodman will kick off the Championships for the nine-strong Australian team, that also features Commonwealth Games silver medallist, Joseph Goodall, and former World junior champion, Clay Waterman.

Victorian 21-year-old Somerville will be the first Australian in action, taking on Kazakhstan’s Abilkhan Amankul, followed by 20-year-old Western Australian, Alex Winwood, who’ll take on Algeria’s Tourag Mohamed Yassine.

The Mandurah boxer is the reigning Australian and Oceania champion.

The youngest member of the Australian team, 18-year-old Sam Goodman from Wollongong, will be the final member of the squad competing on opening night.

Goodman, a bronze medallist at the 2016 Youth World Boxing Championships, will take on India’s Gaurav Bidhuri in what could be a taste of what’s to come at next year’s Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast.

Another five Australians will be in action on Saturday, with Goodall taking on Egypt’s Uosry Rezk in the men’s super heavyweight, while Waterman will face off against Pakistan’s Awais Ali Khan.

2016 Rio Olympian Jason Whateley will have his first bout on Sunday, against India’s Sumit Sangwan.