It may have been the poor relation of other Olympic sports for so long, but Richard Caborn, the former Sports Minister, is predicting that boxing will be the big winner at this year's Games. Amir Khan, Great Britain's lone boxer in Athens four years ago, won a silver medal but with seven boxers already qualified for Beijing, Caborn is expecting a prosperous future.

“This could be Amir Khan times ten,” he said. “This is one of the biggest success stories of British sport. I think this is going to be one of the top three sports in the next few years.”

Yesterday, the seven boxers who have booked their places for Beijing were Caborn's guests in London at the Houses of Parliament, where they met Gordon Brown. Boxing, particularly the amateur code, has friends in high places. It holds attraction not only for the medals it could give the nation but because of the work it does in getting disenfranchised youths off inner-city streets and into schools, where it has been a popular option with both sexes in the battle against child obesity.

Caborn played a big role in ensuring that boxing received a share of National Lottery funding. While all England's 750 amateur clubs are run on a voluntary basis, the success at the highest level has gone beyond what could have been hoped for. Seven qualifiers for Beijing represents two more than the past three Olympics combined and there is one qualifying event to go, with hopes that a full team of 11 could head for China.

“Four years ago in Athens, Terry Edwards [the Britain performance director] told me that the opportunity in this country was immense,” Caborn, who is president of the ABA of England, said. “But the success is not only at the elite level. There has been an explosion of non-contact boxing in schools, where there are now 1,300 tutors and demand is outstripping supply.”

Another guest yesterday predicting great things was Barry McGuigan, a former WBA featherweight champion as a professional and previously a talented amateur who won a Commonwealth Games gold medal for Northern Ireland and boxed for Ireland at the Moscow Olympics in 1980.

“I firmly believe we will win more medals than any other sport in Beijing,” McGuigan said. “I haven't seen this kind of talent in the amateurs in my lifetime. What they have achieved is remarkable. They have got a great system in place and these boys are so talented and have been given the right experience and preparation. They have certainly got it right in amateur boxing at the moment.”

The seven qualifiers include Frankie Gavin, the first British boxer to win a world amateur title. While Gavin and some of the others are likely to turn professional after Beijing, the performance grants on offer mean that the decision for many will not be as clear-cut as it was. With the London Olympics four years away, the ABA is aiming to entice its young stars to stick around.

“We are a sport that has always had a massive post-Olympic haemorrhage and there will be offers after Beijing,” Paul King, the ABA chief executive, said. “But London will be the biggest opportunity any British athlete will ever have. We have got to convince the professional promoters not to dive into the pool we have got at the moment and, in turn, they will benefit long-term. Those boxers who remain for London will get the opportunity to become millionaires overnight.

“If you look at the ages of those boxing for world [professional] titles now, they are often older with more amateur experience. Four years ago, the ABA was not best placed to make Amir a good offer to stay as an amateur, now we are.”

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