Delicious Orie is British boxing’s next super-heavyweight prospect – or so he hopes.
The 24-year-old is aiming to box in his home town of Birmingham at the Commonwealth Games later this year and represent Team GB at the Paris Olympics.
Born in Moscow, his family moved to the UK when he was seven. Starting at a new school is never easy, least of all in Thamesmead when you’re a boy called Delicious who can talk only in Russian.
“That was a big change for me, having to learn a completely new language, a language that’s completely different to Russian as well,” says Orie with a smile.
“I was never an aggressive type of person, I was always quite reserved, quiet. I did feel the odd one out, especially with a name like Delicious as well. That again, as the cherry on the cake and to be even more weird, a person called Delicious who can’t even speak English.
“That was another barrier but, I felt like over time, I just built that courage to be able to learn it quickly enough and get along with people in school and stuff like that and it just got easier and easier. But at the start, it was quite difficult.”
Orie thrived in education. His family moved to the Midlands when he was 11 and he went on to win a place at Aston University. “Going to university was sort of like a thank you to mum and dad for getting me a better life, better opportunity,” he adds.
He has his degree, a first in economics, and can now focus entirely on boxing – a sport he pursued after seeing Briton Anthony Joshua become a world champion.
“You need that initial spark, whatever it is you want to do, a slight inspiration to do something,” Orie says. “I want to try to achieve what he’s achieved and follow the same path.
“Before I even started boxing I just knew this is what I was going to do and it wasn’t something I was just going to try out. I just thought I’m going to do it to the best possible level I can.
“I wasn’t cocky but I was overly confident. Naively overly confident. I thought I could just be the best and I thought I could just fight anyone. But over time you get humbled in sparring and over time you realise you need to take it step by step.”
But Orie did follow those footsteps. He won the national amateur championships in 2019 and went through the selection process to take a place on the GB squad.
In a surreal moment, just four years on from starting out, he found himself sparring Joshua himself at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield.
“The first couple of rounds it was me not minding getting hit by him in the face,” Orie recalls with a laugh. “It was weird.”
There was, though, a more severe obstacle to his progression. Without a passport Orie couldn’t box internationally. He was due to get one, but in 2023 – too late to get the experience he would need to have any hope of competing in the 2024 Olympics.
“I was a resident but I didn’t hold a British passport – and when you have a Russian passport it’s very difficult,” he says. “The process is quite long to be able to get a British passport, because the relationship is not really the best between the two countries.
“So it was a very, very difficult and long procedure, but we managed to get there in the end.
“I was eventually going to get one, it was just the timing. But we needed one as soon as possible.”
The stress was intense. Orie wondered whether he would have to give up on his Olympic dream, but he also received help from lawyers he met through his amateur boxing club.
“Luckily there was light at the end of the tunnel and the passport came through,” Orie adds. “All these doors and opportunities opened and it’s something you can grab with both hands – and not let it go.”
It enabled him to box for Britain at the World Championships last year, as well as go to smaller tournaments in Serbia and Hungary. In May, Orie will enter the European Championships, the next major competition, but also competes in an amateur contest in Spain on Wednesday.
No-one expected him to be a boxer, but now he has a chance to change his whole life.
Orie adds: “When I came here you could see the difference in opportunity. You can now see the difference in that what you put in, is what you get out. There’s a huge difference from somewhere like Russia to here.
“For example, starting boxing at 18 and getting on the GB squad, yeah it’s hard, but it’s possible if you work hard at it. If you do it in Russia, start boxing at 18, 19, it’s very unlikely you would end up representing Team Russia – you just won’t get in the system.
“In the UK, if you work hard, you will get the benefits as long as you just work hard. That’s the beautiful thing about Great Britain. It really is a great place.
“I want to be in a position where I’m proving that. It’s not been easy, it has been difficult, but it’s possible. Definitely it’s possible.”
