VAUXHALL Motors ABC star Nick MacDonald is setting his targets on a double gold at the World Championships and Commonwealth Games.

That's the defiant message from his long-time coach George Treble, a week after the 20-year-old England international's Olympic hopes were crushed by a broken thumb injury.

MacDonald, who is Wirral's most decorated amateur boxer of all-time, was to fly out to Azerbaijan this week for the final round of qualifiers for this year's Olympic Games in Athens.

But the injury jinx that has dogged him at the time when major competitions come around has struck again, as x-rays confirmed that he had broken his thumb for the third time in five months.

Treble, who has been mentor to MacDonald for half the bantamweight's life, training him since he was just 10 years old, revealed that the England squad bosses are 'gutted' by the news.

He said: 'They've told Nick that he's their number one and said he should get himself ready for the World Championships.

'He's already missed the European Championships and second round of Olympic qualifiers through injury, so the kid is devastated.

'Nick had seen videos of everyone he would be up against in Azerbaijan and knew he had the beating of them all.

'As far as I'm concerned, Nick would have gone on and got the gold in Athens this summer, we were all convinced of that with the form he was in.

'If he had captured the Olympic title then he would have received offers to turn professional that he could not refuse. We've already had Audley Harrison's coach coming up to train him and he wanted to take him to the USA.'

MacDonald, who has won eight national titles, will now switch his attentions to the World Championships in China next year and Melbourne's Commonwealth Games in March 2006.

As a boxer who has always performed beyond his tender years, putting his major title hopes back has proved a great frustration for MacDonald.

Treble said: 'Nick recently sparred with Danny Costello, who's a 27-year-old Commonwealth Games silver medallist going for a British professional title.

'Costello remarked that he'd never had a boxing lesson like that and said 'How can a kid do that to me?' He's also the only boxer to stop Kevin Mitchell, who's now gone on and had about six professional fights.'