Sean McGoldrick and Anthony Fowler both paid tribute to those around them after the British Lionhearts enjoyed a successful World Series of Boxing debut with a 4-1 victory over USA Knockouts.
It was announced less than two weeks ago that GB Boxing would be fielding a franchise in the 2012-13 WSB season after withholding from the first two editions because of financial concerns.
And they could not have asked for a better start as Joe Cordina, Anthony Fowler and McGoldrick, all Brits, and Tonga’s Uaine Fa and Zlatko Ledic contributed to a 4-1 win in California.
Lightweight Cordina got the Lionhearts off to the perfect start in their Group B clash defeating Eric Fowler before middleweight Anthony Fowler knocked out Marquis Moore in the second round.
The USA pulled a fight back when light heavyweight Kennedy Katende stopped Ledic in the fifth however heavyweight Fa handed Britain a third win and the overall result by defeating Avery Gibson.
Commonwealth champion McGoldrick completed the contest by beating bantamweight Braulio Avila Juarez after a split decision and he admitted he could not have done it without his coaching team.
He said: “My constant pressure got to him in the later rounds. My jab was very effective. The advice of the coaches was spot on. I felt a lot fitter. Avila is a class fighter but I just did my thing.”
As well as the USA, Britain face Italy, Germany, Ukraine and Kazakhstan in Group B with the top four teams reaching the quarter-finals plus the top four from Group A.
Each nation fights both home and away with Britain welcoming Italy to Newport next week before a trip to Kazakhstan in December and Anthony Fowler certainly enjoyed the experience in the USA.
Britain also boast Olympic silver medallists Fred Evans and John Joe Nevin in their squad and Anthony Fowler said: “I had to keep my composure, I listened to my coaches, it was a great way to win.
“He [Moore] was rolling a lot so I knew that if I put my weight behind my big right hand, he would eventually walk into it.”