LYNN AND OUT
Bantamweight Louie won both the Elite and GB championships in the same year
WERE you expecting to win the England Boxing Elite championships last year?
To be honest I was. The third year I was. Last year was my third year doing it and before that I’d done the Novices, won them, under 20 fights, and went straight to the ABAS the first time. I learned as I went. I jumped in the deep end sort of thing.
Who were the toughest people you boxed in them last year?
Probably Shabaz Masoud and Jack Hillier, the semi-final and final, in the ABAS. Other than that, Lee Mcgregor, he was a tough fight. Three Nations that was. It went good. I boxed really well, I just got caught with a shot that I didn’t see coming in the first round so I got dropped. Then other than that I came back strong.
What was Masoud like in the semifinal?
He was awkward in the first round. We had similar styles. He maybe nicked the first round. In the second round, ‘I thought you know what I’m going to have to do something so I came out strong. I made adjustments. I let him come to me and I counter-punched him.
How many bouts did you have to get to the final?
I think I had about five. Two for the London championship and then I went through and it was obviously three.
[In London] they were still tough opponents but it wasn’t too difficult.
What was the national final like?
I was confident. The good thing is I went on an England camp and I sparred Jack Hillier. I felt like I’d done really well. We’d gone toe-to-toe in sparring. I was confident. He gave his boy a standing eight count in the semi-final and I thought I know he likes to fight. So I boxed him, I was on the backfoot hitting and moving.
But you were aggressive in the GB championships.
I feel because it was on TV and I was thinking about getting onto Team GB I thought they might assess me on this as well, I wanted to impress. I hurt him in the first round. I thought if I could stop him here that would be good. I got a bit excited in the first round.
Is the power developing?
Especially since I’ve been training with Kevin [Mitchell, to turn pro] I’ve been getting a lot stronger and sitting down on my shots. Getting stronger really. Even in sparring now I’m getting a lot stronger.