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Team GB boxing team taking inspiration from Anthony Joshua

Anthony Joshua is inspiring Great Britain's Olympic boxing team to believe they can strike gold in Rio this month.

Four years ago, Joshua won Olympic super-heavyweight gold and since then has turned professional and won a version of the world heavyweight title.

Joshua, 26, still trains at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield where Britain's Olympic boxing team have been based.

He made his first defence of his IBF title with a seventh round win over American Dominic Breazeale last June, having originally won the belt in April. And despite his success at the highest level, he remains friends with the GB's team of 12 boxers.

It is the first time in recent Olympic history that Great Britain has qualified a man in all 10 weight classes, and Team GB will be taking its biggest boxing team since the 1984 Games in Los Angeles.

"Joshua's a huge inspiration for our boxers, and it shows what can be done," performance director Rob McCracken said. "[Lawrence] Okolie in particular, looked to big Josh.

"He won gold at London 2012 as a novice and Lawrence has only had a few more than 20 fights and only been with us six months or so.

"Lawrence believes he can do it and that confidence is a big boost when you travel to go away to tournaments, like the qualifiers or the Olympics."

Okolie, 23, only took up boxing to deal with some personal problems and is in the second year of a psychosocial studies degree at the University of East London.

"When I saw Anthony Joshua win Olympic gold I thought this is possible," he said. "I was constantly picked on, called fat, sometimes it was physical. It made me shy and reserved.

"I was stuck at home, I wouldn't go out and my only comfort was food. I took up boxing as a way of losing weight and qualified for the Olympics after just 23 bouts.

"I'm still a bit inexperienced but I'm going out there not just for the experience, but for the gold medal."

McCracken trained Nottingham's Carl Froch, who was a three-time world super-middleweight champion, and says Joshua has what it takes to rule for years.

"It has probably surprised most people how quickly he has won the world title but I knew the quality, the mindset, the determination, the focus, the power, the athleticism he had and if you put that all together it's a winning formula," McCracken added.

"It will take someone to stop him and he does the job quickly. He's everything you want in a professional fighter."