Amateur focus – Harvey Lambert

Harvey Lambert

What does winning the national title mean to you?

You know what, itโ€™s the absolute world. I was on cloud nine. Words canโ€™t describe, it means so much to me. Iโ€™ve got the best support, family, friends, in the world, but this is for my dad, this. Heโ€™s fanatical with all the support. He does it as much as me.

Did he get you into the sport?

I donโ€™t know. I must have been rubbish at football or something. I started when I was six. Iโ€™ve had 98 fights. I want the 100. Iโ€™ll travel anywhere, Iโ€™ll fight anywhere.

Iโ€™m just so happy [with the title]. I came close last year. I lost to Harris [Akbar] in a close fight.

And Harris is very good, isnโ€™t he?

People were saying he should have got gold in the Europeans and it was my first year at 69kgs. It shows where Iโ€™m at really.

I want to be on Team GB. Thatโ€™s the goal. Thatโ€™s the aim and I didnโ€™t get on the final selection, I didnโ€™t get on the final assessment [earlier this year]. They spoke to my dad for feedback, what he could have done, what he should have done and all this. They said basically youโ€™ve got to win the ABAs. So Iโ€™m not saying I should be on, Iโ€™m not saying I deserve to be on but Iโ€™m doing the right steps to be on.

So there was a lot riding on the national final?

Oh yes, loads. Itโ€™s the pinnacle of the sport as well. The scene in boxing, the scene at welterweight as well, itโ€™s a popular weight. Us and middleweight [are the most competitive] I think. Iโ€™m just so happy. It means so much to us. First national [title]. Iโ€™ve been to five nationals, through schoolboy, junior, youths, last year. Iโ€™ve been beat in all four in the finals.

To get this win, Iโ€™m so happy.

Elliot Whale was boxing well in the final, were you worried at all in the first round?

I had two fights in the quarters and the semis, I was comfy in them but I had two kids that were strong physical kids, that wanted to put me under it a bit. They couldnโ€™t really stand up to me skillwise. But Elliot beat me three years ago when we were 17, 18. I boxed him in Kent. It was a close fight again. So that was a bit of psychological stuff as well. Iโ€™m just so happy. Iโ€™m proper over the moon.

And you work as a scaffolder so youโ€™ve got to fit all training in around that?

I do 40 hours a week. Two weeks into being 18 I got the job. I donโ€™t want to be a scaffolder by all means. I want to be a boxer. Itโ€™s a career, itโ€™s not a recreation for me. Everythingโ€™s based around that really.

It keeps me fit, keeps me active. Man strength and all the rest of it.

Youโ€™ll be the next star to come out of Hull?

Luke [Campbell] has planted the seed, and Tommy [Coyle]. Weโ€™ve got a big scene in Hull now. When I went to St. Paulโ€™s I was 11 or 12 and the seniors by then were amazing.

Lukeโ€™s obviously gone to the next couple of levels. To be around them, St. Paulโ€™s is the best club by far in my opinion. Mike Bromby and the coaches, Iโ€™ve got the best people in my corner.

Everythingโ€™s great.

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