Evans keeps his focus

European amateur champion Fred Evans will get his World Championship campaign under way on Thursday.

Welshman insists he feels no Olympic pressure

European amateur champion Fred Evans will get his World Championship campaign under way in Baku on Thursday insisting he feels no pressure as he bids to qualify for the London 2012 Olympics. The Welshman meets New Zealand's Ricky Murphy in his opening bout in the knowledge that three straight wins ought to be enough to book his place at the Games next summer. Evans said: "My confidence has gone up but apart from that I feel just the same. I was singled out a lot as a junior so all this is nothing new to me. I am just focused on getting to London. "Obviously there will be a lot more people in the draw who know about me now but I don't mind that. I am still young and learning all the time. This is a big challenge and I'm ready for it." Evans' 69kg rival Scott Cardle also gets his campaign under way in a tough opener against Beijing bronze medallist Alex Vastine of France. England super-heavyweight Anthony Joshua is also in action. In Wednesday's action, Welshman Sean McGoldrick was narrowly beaten 12-10 by Turkey's Furkhan Memis in his opening bantamweight bout. Memis beat England's Luke Campbell in the European Championships earlier this year.