Earlier this month, Liverpool hosted the inaugural World Boxing Championships.
The event, which drew athletes and fans from across the world, marks the first elite-level global championships staged by World Boxing, a federation formed in 2023 after the International Olympic Committee suspended recognition of the previous governing body.
With the future of Olympic boxing under scrutiny, the Championships are designed to provide a credible international stage for amateur athletes, ensuring the sport retains its Olympic status. Simultaneously, the tournament positions amateur boxing as a discipline focused on skill and fairness, distinct from the showmanship of pro boxing.
To bring it to life, World Boxing turned to Continuous to build a brand that could carry the weight of a prestigious global competition, while blending the character of the host city as well as the international appeal of the event.
“One of our main asks was to ensure the brand represented Liverpool and the values of the city, while also introducing the event as something new, clean, and different from what’s gone before,” says John Muddeman, event director at World Boxing.
As a Liverpool-based agency, Continuous was well placed to tap into the city’s spirit. This local insight helped them land on the cultural truth that anchors the brand and its central message – “Welcome to our corner.”
Continuous’ brand for the World Boxing Championships
“Liverpool gives a welcome like no other city. You do get that real sense of community when you come here,” says Mike Walsh, design director at Continuous. “We wanted to make sure that was translated into the visual and the verbal identity.”
This message also spoke to where the sport of boxing wants to be right now.
“Amateur boxing, as an institution, has gone through a period of change and uncertainty. So that idea of ‘welcome’ started to work on multiple levels,” says Walsh.
The scale of the World Boxing Championships demanded a core idea that was as simple as it was powerful, and flexible enough to cut across contexts.
The message needed to appeal to many different audiences, “from die-hard boxing fans to event-goers and the people of Liverpool,” says Jen Falding, head of major sports events at Liverpool City Council. “It had to speak to the local community, while also being outward-facing enough to connect with a global audience.”
That same balancing act shaped the identity, calling for a measured mix of consistency and distinction. Continuous intentionally decided to borrow certain visual codes of World Boxing’s identity – such as the Figtree typeface used in the wordmark and the colour palette – to ensure the two brands felt part of the same family, and could sit side by side with confidence.
Continuous’ brand for the World Boxing Championships
At the same time, they introduced a distinctive visual device, turning the word “corner” into a graphic system of four lines, a nod to the ropes that frame a boxing ring.
The lines, which are used as a recurring motif throughout the identity, were designed to be flexible. “It can allude to the ring, but then we can also flip it and hang text and graphics from it, and it turns into a medal,” says Walsh.
Building on this, the typographic palette – with Figtree, and Neighbor Bold, chosen as the headline typeface for its classic sporty aesthetic – adds character to an otherwise pared-back visual system, whose restraint is deliberate.
“We kept the system intentionally simple – literal, even – so it could flex while staying consistent across a wide range of applications,” says Walsh. “The goal was to hand over a brand that others could activate seamlessly, since we wouldn’t be running every roll-out ourselves.”
This considered approach also reflects the prestige and calibre of the Championships, giving it a refined, premium presence that reinforces its status as an elite event.
In this exercise, Continuous was able to define an entirely new visual language for amateur boxing.
Continuous’ brand for the World Boxing Championships
“We wanted to set this event apart from what you expect to see in pro boxing, particularly around the tone and the language,” says Muddeman.
“The sport’s very adversarial. All the language revolves around ‘showdown’ or ‘knockout,’ and visually, you see images of blood going everywhere, and someone getting their head knocked off.
“That’s not what Olympic boxing is about. The brand helps us deliver that message that this is about the skill, the power, the dynamism, and the quality of the athletes.”
The identity ultimately set the tone for the event, and was adopted cohesively across touchpoints – from the arena to street banners.
According to Falding, the branding has been met with enthusiastic approval across the city. “Liverpool always has banners up for different events throughout the year, so for people to notice these and say they look brilliant is a real testament to the strength of the brand.”
Continuous’ brand for the World Boxing Championships
Continuous’ brand for the World Boxing Championships
Continuous’ brand for the World Boxing Championships
Continuous’ brand for the World Boxing Championships
The identities of World Boxing and the World Boxing Championships, seen together