LEAMINGTON fighter Lewis Williams has been selected to represent Team England at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games this summer.
Williams won bronze at the European Championships in Armenia in May and is hoping to impress on home soil with the gold medal in his sights.
The heavyweight has mainly fought abroad when competing for Team GB and is relishing the opportunity to box in front of a home crowd in Birmingham.
Williams exclusively told the Observer: “It’s my first Commonwealth Games and it will my first local competition in a few years, I’ve mainly been fighting abroad since I’ve been boxing for Team GB.
“Nobody has really watched me box unless they’ve tuned into the streams and so on, to have such a massive event on your doorstep is huge, hopefully, we can get a lot of people there.
“It’s good to still have a medal, I’m picking apart my mistakes and the way I can correct myself to make sure I win gold next time.
“I can’t just settle for that colour medal, I’m constantly improving from that tournament and want to move it up to the gold.”
And Williams, who won gold at the Gee Bee tournament in Finland in April, believes this summer’s Games will act as vital competition experience ahead of potentially representing Team GB at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in the future.
Williams added: “Prep has been good, it’s been really hard training, it’s non-stop, I go out to Belfast this weekend for some international sparring.
“I’m getting competition training over there, it’s not your teammates, it’s people that want to try and hurt you, it’s as close to a fight as you can get it.
“I’m always training towards a competition, it’s never easy, it’s just the same cycle as normal but for a much bigger event.
“It’s going to be similar to the Olympics, to be involved in the Games where there are multiple sports taking place and the amount of eyes on it should give me a similar feel, it’s almost like a test run for me.”
The boxing event at the Games takes place from Friday, July 29 to Sunday, August 7 at the NEC in Birmingham.
