Britain’s heavyweight boxing scene in thriving. In Daniel Dubois, Moses Itauma, Fabio Wardley and of course Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury, the UK has a host of world class fighters in the professional ranks.

London’s Damar Thomas is looking to carry the torch through the amateur sport. Still just 21 years old, a six foot six southpaw super-heavyweight, he could mark himself out as a genuine Olympic contender if he wins some more international silverware.

On Wednesday Thomas will have his first bout in the Commonwealth Games boxing tournament as he targets the most high profile medal of his career.

“It’s going to be great to fight in Glasgow. I’m taking it as another competition,” Thomas told Sky Sports. “It doesn’t matter how big it is, I’ll take it as another competition and get stuck in.

“It doesn’t matter how big the tournament is, I take everything really serious,” he added.

“There’s going to be great competition there. I need to be in the best shape I can be and do everything that I can to get the success I want, which is the gold medal.”

Thomas fell just short of guaranteeing himself a medal at the World championships last year. He was facing Olympic legend Julio La Cruz, already a two-weight Olympic champion and a five-time World gold medallist.

La Cruz had moved up in weight and despite Thomas’ strong start the wily, hyper-skilled veteran managed to outfox the young Briton and pocket the decision.

Since then however Thomas has been on a fine winning run, picking up gold medals at the European under-23 championships and the Strandja, another top calibre tournament.

“Since I boxed La Cruz, I know what I could have done better, you take the positives with the bad. Since then I’ve worked on what I done wrong and I’ve worked on what I done good and could have done more,” Thomas said.

Stoppages in elite class, evenly matched amateur boxing bouts are rare. But Thomas has been halting his opponents.

“I had three fights [at the European under-23 championships] and I stopped two people. I stopped the boy in the finals in the second round and then the quarter-finals in the first round,” Thomas noted.

At the Strandja tournament, often viewed as a mini World championships, he took out Brazil’s Joao Batista Gomes Da Silva in one round en route to winning the whole event. It’s a sign of how far he could go – “to the top”.

“I was gutted that I lost in the quarter-finals of the World championships,” Thomas said. “Since then I’ve come on leaps and bounds, I’m going to prove it to everyone when everyone comes and watches me in Glasgow.

“Since then look what I’ve done. Since the World championships look what I’ve done. So what I’m doing is obviously working and I’ll look to carry it on in Glasgow and get a gold medal.”

Strong start for England

Thomas’ England team-mates got off to a strong start on the first day of the Commonwealth Games on Friday with all four of their boxers winning their bouts.

Ellis Trowbridge, the son of three-weight world champion Duke McKenzie, outclassed Vanuatu 55kgs Ricksen Nomleas, who was pulled out by the referee after little more than a minute.

Lauren Mackie outscored Kenya’s Amina Faki at 54kgs, while lightweight Lucy Kings-Wheatley handled Petronella Nokenoke of Papua New Guinea.

Patris Mughalzai, a clubmate of Thomas at Powerday Hooks, won his opening contest, unanimously outpointing Ghanaian welterweight Abdul Wahid Omar.

Other top England prospects to watch out for include rising flyweight Ruby White, who boxes on Monday; London welterweight Sacha Hickey and heavyweight Isaac Okoh, who will both be in action on Tuesday and Olympian Chantelle Reid who’ll box on Wednesday.

Watch Edgar Berlanga vs Steven Butler and Richardson Hitchins vs Ricardo Salas in New York from 10pm on Sunday, live on Sky Sports. Get Sky Sports or stream with no contract on NOW

United States President Donald Trump said LeBron James might be “a racist” when asked if the basketball star is the “best ever” to play the sport.

James, 41, announced on Friday he is set to continue his glittering career with the Philadelphia 76ers.

When asked about the move in a White House news conference later, Trump explained why he believed Michael Jordan was the better player.

Jordan, 63, won six NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s and NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) five times.

When asked whether Jordan or James was the “best ever”, Trump said: “Michael Jordan is a guy that’s a friend of mine. I play golf with him. He’s a really good guy.

“I think LeBron is, maybe he’s a racist, but maybe he doesn’t like Trump. I don’t know. I only like people that like me, so I would say Michael Jordan all the way.”

James, who has not responded to Trump’s comment, has been a regular critic of Trump during his terms as president and endorsed Democrat candidates Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris when they ran against him.

In 2017 he referred to Trump as “a bum” following a row over invitations to the White House for NBA-winning teams.

James has won four NBA titles with the Miami Heat (twice), the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Los Angeles Lakers.

He has been named the league’s MVP four times and is the NBA’s all-time leader in points and games played.

James will be looking to secure a fifth title with the 76ers following his announcement on Friday that he is heading to Philadelphia.

They now boast the talents of James and All-Stars Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Jaylen Brown.

“I believe I can help make the Philadelphia 76ers a championship team,” James said in a lengthy post on social media.