Sunderland flyweight Kiaran MacDonald one of 14 boxers selected to represent Team England at Commonwealth Games

Britain's Kiaran Macdonald (blue) fights against Spain's Martin Molina Salvador (red) during their EUBC Men's European Boxing Championships 51 kg final bout in Yerevan, on May 30, 2022. (Photo by Karen MINASYAN / AFP) (Photo by KAREN MINASYAN/AFP via Getty Images)

MacDonald forms part of a team made up of eight men and six women who are all part of the World Class Programme for Boxing and part of the GB Boxing squad that trains at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield.

The Commonwealth squad features a range of boxers who have competed at World and European tournaments, and includes five men who all earned medals at the recent 2022 European Championships in MacDonald, Harris Akbar, Lewis Richardson, Lewis Williams and Delicious Orie.

MacDonald earned Silver in his first ever EUBC European Boxing Championship finals in Yerevan back in May, narrowly missing out on Gold in his final bout loss to Martin Molina.

MacDonald earned himself a shot at Gold after coming from behind on the scorecards to win a narrow split decision over Italian Federico Serra but fell short in the final against a tricky customer in Molina.

It comes after the Sunderland fighter was defeated in the preliminary rounds of the World Championships in Belgrade in October 2021 by Yuberjen Martinez Rivas as he continues to show his signs of progression on the 2024 Olympic cycle.

County Durham’s Joe Tyers has also been selected to represent Team England in the light-welterweight division.

The coaches that will accompany the boxers in Birmingham are all from GB Boxing and include Lee Pullen, Dave Alloway, Gary Hale and Graham Alderson who have all coached teams at Olympic and Commonwealth Games.

The Boxing Team Leader will be Darren Chappel, who oversaw the team’s history-making medal haul at the 2018 Gold Coast Games.

Team England’s Chef de Mission, Mark England OBE, welcomed the boxers to the team: “After such a successful Gold Coast Games in 2018, I’m excited to see how our Boxing class of 2022 shape up for the Birmingham games.

"It is an honour to welcome the 14 athletes to Team England, and I know the NEC crowd will be eager to support each boxer when they enter the ring.”

The Commonwealth Games commence on July 29 with the boxing taking place at Birmingham’s NEC venue.