Commonwealth Games

Mixed start for the hosts as Lesotho and England stand-out on first day of boxing actionat Glasgow 2026

(Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)

A fantastic first day of action at the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games saw 22 bouts take place across the men and women’s weight categories at the Scottish Exhibition Campus (SEC) on the banks of the River Clyde.

It was a mixed day for the hosts as one of their biggest medal hopes, Aaron Culllen, lost out in his bantamweight (M55kg) contest against India’s Jadumani Singh Mandengbam. However, Leo Church gave the home fans cause to cheer as he delivered an impressive a performance to secure a unanimous victory over Vi-J Tebouwa of Nauru at welterweight (M65kg).

The big winners on the day were Lesotho and England who won three and four bouts respectively.

The competition got underway with a sparkling performance by England’s Lauren Mackie who eased to a unanimous victory over Kenya’s 2024 African Games bronze medallist, Amina Faki in their bantamweight (W54kg) contest.

Mackie was too fast and skilful for her opponent and inflicted a second round knockdown on Faki, as she won the bout on all five of the judges’ cards which contained a number of 10-8 rounds.

The biggest surprise of the morning came in the fourth contest of the day when Mathealira Seholoholo of Lesotho stunned Northern Ireland’s Louis Rooney with a spectacular second round knockout in their bantamweight (M55kg) clash.

Representing the nation that finished top of the boxing medal table at Birmingham 2022, Rooney had looked comfortable in edging the first round but was floored by a powerful overhand right from Seholoholo which brought the contest to an immediate halt in round two.

It signalled the start of a great session for the tiny land-locked kingdom of Lesotho, which won all three of its bouts.  

In one of the best match-ups of the day Pooana Khoahli delivered a barnstorming final round to edge a see-sawing welterweight (M65kg) battle with De Niro Pau from Niue, 29-28 on all five of judges’ cards.

And in the last final fight of the first session, Refiloe Thai secured a 4-0 victory over Nigeria’s Ayomide Hassan Foly at lightweight (M60kg).

The later session proved to be a day of mixed fortunes for the home nation with Aaron Culllen’s loss and Leo Church’s win.

However, traditional rivals England enjoyed two more wins to make it the most successful team on day one of boxing as Lucy Kings-Wheatley outpointed Papua New Guinea’s Petronella Nokenoke at lightweight (W60kg) and Patris Mughalzai overcame a spirited performance from Ghana’s Abdul Wahib Omar at welterweight (M65kg).

Following the wins by Lauren Mackie and Ellis Trowbridge in the early session it meant that English boxers won all four of their bouts on the first day of competition.

All of today’s results, details of the draw, daily schedules and all other competition information is HERE.

Saturday’s action will feature two more sessions of action starting at 11:00 and 18:00 local timeand will be televised live on TNT Sports and HBO Max.

World Boxing will be posting updates throughout the competition on its social media channels:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/officialworldboxing

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OfficialWorldBoxing/

• X: https://x.com/RealWorldBoxing

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/world-boxing

201 boxers from 43 Nations set to face-off when boxing gets underway at the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games

201 male and female boxers from 43 Commonwealth Games Associations (CGAs) will face-off when the boxing competition gets underway at the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games at the Scottish Event Campus (SEC).

The competition will run from 24July – 1 August 2026 and is the first Commonwealth Games in history to feature gender parity in the boxing competition with seven weight classes for both men and women.

The draw for the competition has been made and can be viewed, along with the schedule and all other competition information HERE.

Boxing has traditionally been one of the strongest sports of the home nation, Scotland, which finished third in the boxing medal table at Birmingham 2022 with three golds and two bronze.

For this Games, it is fielding a team of six men and five women. Medal hopes include light-middleweight (M70kg), Sonny Kerr, who is part of Great Britain’s Olympic programme, and light-heavyweight (M80kg) Alan Perrie, who reached the quarter finals at last year’s World Boxing Championships in Liverpool.

The two nations that finished above Scotland in Birmingham were Ireland and India, which came first and second respectively, and are both bringing strong teams to Glasgow.

The Ireland selection is made-up of seven men and five women and features Commonwealth Games legend, Micheala Walsh, who will be competing in her fourth Games and is defending the featherweight (W57kg) crown she won in Birmingham, after silvers in 2014 and 2018.

In the men’s weights, Jude Gallagher, will be looking to add a lightweight (M60kg) gold medal to the one he secured at featherweight in Birmingham last time out.

The Indian line-up of 14 boxers is one of the strongest in the competition, particularly in the women’s categories where it includes world number three, Preeti Pawar (W54kg), the reigning featherweight (W57kg) world champion, Jaismine Lamboria, and Arundhati Choudhary, who is ranked number two in the world at light-middleweight (W70kg).

India’s big hope in the men’s weights is super-heavyweight (M90kg+) Narender Berwal, who won silver at the World Boxing Cup in India in November 2025 and is ranked number five in the current World Boxing rankings.

The biggest challenge to Berwal at super-heavyweight is expected to come from England’s Damar Thomas who will be looking to follow Joe Joyce, Frazer Clarke and Delicious Orie to become the fourth consecutive English winner in the heaviest division in the competition.

Thomas is part of a 14-strong England team that is brimming with talent. It includes world number six, Sacha Hickey, at welterweight (W65kg) and 2025 World Boxing Championship bronze medallist and Paris 2024 Olympian, Chantelle Reid, at light-middleweight (W70kg).

Joining Thomas in the men’s weights is heavyweight (M90kg), Isaac Okoh, who has moved up to number eight in the world, after a career best performance at the recent World Boxing Cup in China where he defeated Paris 2024 silver medallist, Enmanuel Reyes.

The final home nation team is Wales, which features three women and four men and includes defending Commonwealth Games champion and Paris 2024 Olympian, Rosie Eccles, in what is expected to be her swansong in international boxing.

The men’s line-up includes Owain Harris-Allan, who will box at lightweight (M60kg) after winning a bantamweight bronze at Birmingham 2022, and light-heavyweight (M80kg), Daniel Pitt, who won gold at the U19 World Boxing Championships in 2024 and is a member of World Boxing’s Athlete Committee.

From further afield, Australia’s line-up includes 2025 world championship silver, Emma-Sue Greentree, at middleweight (W75kg) and Lekeisha Pergoliti who won world bronze in Liverpool at light-middleweight (W70kg).

Fiji has five boxers in the competition and includes army officer, Aminiasi Saratibau (W80kg), who competed at the 2025 World Boxing Championships in Liverpool.

Samoa’s four-person team is coached by 1992 Olympic Games medallist and multiple world title challenger, David Tua, and features 2020 Olympian, Marion Ah Tong, who will be competing in his second Commonwealth Games in the men’s light-middleweight (M70kg) division.

From the Americas, siblings Keoma Ali Al Ahmadieh and Marie Alahmadieh will represent Canada at lightweight (60kg) in the men’s and women’s competitions respectively. Team Canada has six boxers in the draw and has high hopes for Joshua Ofori who will make his Commonwealth Games debut at light-heavyweight (M80kg).

African countries have a great tradition in boxing and won 18 medals in the ring at Birmingham 2022.

Some of the names to watch out for this time around include Kenya’s Amina Feki (W54kg), who won bronze at the 2024 African Games and South Africa’s Thandolwethu Mathiba, who is an eight-time national champion.

The largest African contingents are from Lesotho, Nigeria and Uganda which have six boxers each and Ghana, which will be represented by seven men and three women.  

After coming eighth in the boxing medal table at the last Games, the Ghanaian team is hoping to do better in Glasgow and features Abdul Omar at welterweight (M65kg) who is looking to improve on the bronze medal he won at Birmingham in the light-welterweight division. 

The official draw has taken place and can be viewed HERE. The competition gets underway at 11:00 (BST) on Friday 24 July 2026 when England’s Lauren Mackie will face Amina Feki of Kenya in the women’s bantamweight division (W54kg).

The action will take place across two sessions of boxing for the first six days of competition, followed by a rest day on 30 July 2026. When it resumes there will be three sessions of semi-final action on Friday 31 July 2026 followed by two sessions of finals on Saturday 1 August 2026, when 14 Commonwealth Games champion will be crowned.

All of the action is being televised live on TNT Sports and HBO Max.

World Boxing will be posting updates throughout the competition on its social media channels: