Having a first round bye, light heavyweight Tony Jeffries faced Colombian Eleider Alvarez on Thursday. It was a steady opening round as both men sussed each other out, but neither scored a point in the initial stanza.

Jeffries finally gets the first point with almost a minute of round two gone. A short left followed by a short right scored, which didn't register immediately on the computer scoreboard.

Moments later, a right lands from Jeffries but in the closing seconds, the Colombian lands a right and the score is 2-1 end of the second frame.

Both men come out looking more motivated in round three and Jeffries immediately scores. A fairly even round finishes with a 4-3 score to Jeffries.

A good right from Jeffries lands in the opening seconds of the final round, but he holds on momentarily when Alvarez lands a great uppercut. It's 5-4 to Jeffries and he just needs to keep out of trouble for the last half minute, but Alvarez scores again and it's a messy end with a score of 5 all.

The decider is "count-back", taking the judge's individual scores and discounting the best and worst. Jeffries is delighted when he is announced as the winner and goes through to the quarter-finals. More...

Despite the disappointment that Olympic Medal contender and current world lightweight champion Frankie Gavin was sent home for being three pounds overweight in Beijing, the remaining ‘Boxing Brits’ have gotten off to great start.

The first to box was middleweight James DeGale. The 22 year old DeGale had declared that ‘a medal would be lovely’ but that this was ‘all preparation for 2012’.

DeGale faced Egyptian Mohamed Hikal and after a tough start- losing the first round 3-2 to his opponent - DeGale settled in and dominated the second round to score 5-3 at the half-way point.

Gaining in confidence, DeGale looked to be enjoying the second half of the contest as he relaxed into the fight, finally winning by 13-4 after four rounds.

DeGale is now scheduled to fight American boxer Shawn Estrada.

As British hopefuls prepare for the boxing in Beijing this weekend, today it seems that ʼfavouriteʼ Frankie Gavin is struggling to make the lightweight limit and may not get his olympic-shot at a medal. The Birmingham man has 106 wins to his name out of 127 bouts and was considered a leading candidate for a Gold Medal in Beijing.

Other medal contenders include Joe Murray - brother of John Murray, the recently crowned British Lightweight Champion. Joe - a tall boxer for a bantamweight, has plenty of experience but knows this will be a tough test for him.

Khalid Saeed Yafai, another Birmingham man, appears confident at ʽFlyweightʼ. Stockton-on-Tees boxer Bradley Saunders knows the competition is high in his weight division, but with 146 bouts under his belt - the light welterweight remains calm and focussed.

Youngest of the bunch - Billy Joe Saunders - has bags of confidence. Seeking perfection, this young welterweight will have his sights set on a Gold.

Middleweight James DeGale is looking to prove himself to the UK audience. Tony Jeffries of Sunderland is the light heavyweight contender and David Price of Liverpool, the eldest of the eight Olympic contenders, fights at super heavyweight.

The opening ceremony was last night and the boxing begins today.